Raise the Bar

In this episode of Raise the Bar Radio, Seth Bradley welcomes Rich Fettke, co-founder of Real Wealth, to share his incredible journey from a life-threatening cancer scare to building a real estate empire. Rich Fettke explains how his wife’s pivot to real estate investing during his health crisis led to the creation of Real Wealth, which has since helped over 70,000 members acquire more than $1.2 billion in assets.
Together, Seth Bradley and Rich Fettke dive deep into the mindset shift required to escape the grind, the importance of clarity and vision, and why hard assets like real estate are key to sustainable wealth, freedom, and major tax advantages, especially for high-income professionals such as attorneys and doctors.
Rich Fettke also breaks down the difference between passive and active investing, explaining how Real Wealth offers vetted markets and property teams for investors seeking a more hands-off experience. Seth Bradley and Rich Fettke discuss insights from Rich’s book, The Wise Investor, designed to inspire readers to take control of their financial futures through compelling storytelling. Wrapping up, Seth Bradley and Rich Fettke emphasize the power of passive income in creating freedom, reducing stress, and ultimately living life on your own terms without sacrificing health, family, or personal passions.
Links to Watch and Subscribe:
https://youtu.be/rF_4-7G7vYw
Bullet Point Highlights:
Rich Fettke shares his powerful origin story and the creation of Real Wealth.
Real Wealth has helped 70,000+ members acquire $1.2B+ in assets.
Importance of clarity, vision, and avoiding reactive life decisions.
Hard assets like real estate provide stability, tax advantages, and true passive income.
Real Wealth offers turnkey, vetted investing options through preferred property teams.
Passive income helps professionals reduce tax burdens and escape active income traps.
Rich's book The Wise Investor inspires readers to take action through relatable storytelling.
Transcript:
Seth Bradley (00:02.094)What's up, Builders? This is Raise the Bar Radio, where we talk about building wealth, raising capital, and all in all, raising the bar in your business and your life. This is the No BS podcast for capital raisers, investors, and entrepreneurs who are serious about scaling their business and living life on their own terms. I'm Seth Bradley, securities attorney, real estate investor, and entrepreneur, bringing you world-class strategies from the best in the game.
If you're ready to raise more capital, close bigger deals, build a better you, and create true financial freedom, you're in the right place. Let's go.
So.
Rich, what's going on brother? Welcome to the show.
Rich Fettke Thank you, good to be here.
Seth Bradley (00:47.054) Absolutely, man. Thanks for coming on. Really appreciate it. Let's just dive right in. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background and feel free to take it back as far as you'd like.
Rich Fettke Okay, well... (continues storytelling about business origins and melanoma diagnosis)
Seth Bradley Yeah, that's an incredible story, man. I just think about those inflection points and obviously that was a major inflection point in your life. How do you think other people could shift into investing or making a change without having something catastrophic happen?
Rich Fettke Thank goodness I don't want that to happen to anyone... (continues explanation about clarity and creating vision)
Seth Bradley Yeah, I love that. I mean, it's almost like just slowing down for a second and thinking about your life.
Rich Fettke And that is it. Yeah. Investment properties, whatever that looks like... (continues explanation about real estate, passive income, etc.)
Seth Bradley Yeah, yeah. So is that the first step? I'd really like you to walk us through what you would do with a potential client or person who comes to you and says, "I'm a highly paid W-2..."
Rich Fettke It's vital. Yeah. Starting with the why like we talked about... (continues explanation about active vs passive income and tax advantages)
Seth Bradley Yeah, for sure. And that retirement gets farther and farther away.
Rich Fettke 100% and getting hard assets... (continues explanation about why hard assets like real estate matter)
Seth Bradley Yeah, yeah, for sure. For sure. Now, I'm sure you've seen a lot of people you've helped. What are the changes you've seen in their lives after they start investing?
Rich Fettke You know, that was the whole intention of that book I just wrote... (continues explanation about The Wise Investor and people creating real wealth)
Seth Bradley Absolutely. I talk to folks, especially attorneys, who are unhappy with where they’re at...
Rich Fettke So much. At Real Wealth we call them Henrys — high earners, not rich yet... (continues explanation about tax savings and financial freedom)
Seth Bradley Yeah, that's right. Taxes are the thing...
Rich Fettke Mm-hmm. Ain’t that?
Seth Bradley Yeah. So tell us a little bit more about this book. Is it out? Can we buy it now?
Rich Fettke Yeah, it’s been out for almost a year now... (continues explanation about The Wise Investor, story format, and why he wrote it as a parable)
Seth Bradley Yeah, same here. Same here. Sounds like the hero of that story, I think a lot of people can relate to that.
Rich Fettke Yeah, and that's how I wrote it... (continues explanation about hero's journey format and story impact)
Seth Bradley (27:11.202) Yeah, yeah. I love that. I mean, Rich Dad Poor Dad — story form impacts millions.
Rich Fettke Number one finance book of all time. Pretty amazing.
Seth Bradley Yeah. I'd love to dive into passive vs active real estate investing. I know you do both. What do you think about that and what do you advise folks?
Rich Fettke Yeah, great question. I love that you said it's a sliding scale... (continues explanation about passive LP investing, single family properties, active oversight)
Seth Bradley That's right. Yeah. It's that first action that changes everything...
Rich Fettke Yeah, it's like buying your first house... (continues explanation about mindset shift and leverage)
Seth Bradley Yeah. And going back to what you said about active vs passive... it's about finding the right team members, right? Broker, coach, property manager...
Rich Fettke Yeah, yeah. Don’t try to do it yourself... (continues explanation about importance of team and referrals)
Seth Bradley Absolutely. Alright Rich, before we jump into the Freedom Four, do you have one last gold nugget for our listeners?
Rich Fettke One last gold nugget... (explains importance of working with tax attorney and CPA)
Seth Bradley Love that. Alright, let’s jump into the Freedom Four. What's the best thing you do to keep your mind and body healthy?
Rich Fettke Oh, working out, exercise every morning... (cold plunge and workout routine)
Seth Bradley Perfect. What's one limiting belief you've crushed along the way?
Rich Fettke Mostly crushed... (story about overcoming "I'm stupid" belief and weight training for discipline)
Seth Bradley Yeah, I love that. What's one actionable step listeners can do right now to start creating more freedom?
Rich Fettke I would say get clear on that vision... (setting life goals and clarity)
Seth Bradley And last but not least, how has passive income made your life better?
Rich Fettke Me personally, I can live life on my own terms... (adventure sports, freedom, job optional)
Seth Bradley Love that, man. Rich, this has been great. Where can our listeners find out more about you?
Rich Fettke Our company website is realwealth.com... (social media handles, Amazon book link, etc.)
Seth Bradley (38:22.082) Thanks for tuning in to Raise the Bar Radio. If you enjoyed today's episode, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who needs to hear it. Keep pushing, keep building, and keep raising the bar. Until next time, enjoy the journey.
Links from the Show and Guest Info and Links:
Seth Bradley’s Links:
https://x.com/sethbradleyesq
https://www.youtube.com/@sethbradleyesq
www.facebook.com/sethbradleyesq
https://www.threads.com/@sethbradleyesq
https://www.instagram.com/sethbradleyesq/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethbradleyesq/
https://passiveincomeattorney.com/seth-bradley/
https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/sethbradleyesq
https://medium.com/@sethbradleyesq
https://www.tiktok.com/@sethbradleyesq?lang=en
Rich Fettke’s Links:
https://x.com/FettkeRich
https://www.facebook.com/rich.fettke
https://www.threads.com/@richfettke
https://www.instagram.com/richfettke/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/fettke/
https://realwealth.com/about/rich-fettke/

In this episode of Decoding Cash Flow, host Ted Patel interviews Seth Bradley, a securities attorney and real estate syndicator. Seth Bradley discusses the intricacies of raising capital for real estate investments and delves into the legal considerations involved, particularly compliance with SEC regulations. Seth Bradley shares his journey from a blue-collar background to becoming a successful attorney and real estate investor, providing a detailed account of his experiences in syndication and capital raising.
The conversation covers topics such as the importance of being an active partner in syndications, the evolution of Seth Bradley’s investment strategy from small multifamily properties to larger syndications, and the rise of fund-of-funds models. Seth Bradley emphasizes the necessity for investors to understand legal documents and outlines key strategies for successful capital raising. This episode serves as a valuable resource for both passive and active investors looking to navigate the complex world of real estate investment with guidance from Seth Bradley.
Links to listen and subscribe:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2104713/episodes/15911080-ep-153-leveraging-legal-expertise-for-investment-success-with-seth-bradley
Links to watch and subscribe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4xTU9T6CVA&t=375s
Bullet Point Highlights:
Securities Compliance: Understanding the legal framework is crucial when raising capital to avoid issues with the SEC.
Transitioning to Syndication: Seth discusses moving from small investments to syndication, emphasizing a progressive approach.
Legal Documents: The importance of reviewing legal documents and understanding what to look for to avoid pitfalls.
Network Importance: Leveraging existing networks can significantly boost initial capital raising efforts.
Fund of Funds: Exploring how the fund of funds model offers a structured way to raise capital while adhering to regulations.
Investor Communication: Maintaining regular communication with investors leads to referrals and sustained relationships.
Future Trends: Insights into potential changes in the real estate syndication market depending on political climate and economic factors.
 
Transcript:
you can certainly partner with other partners and buy a property together and raise Capital together and it's perfectly fine but as you know all you all need to be active partners and as you also know many times people put these things together not everybody's an active partner some people are just coming into the deal just to raise capital and then they don't have anything to do with the operations or the decision-making or anything like that and that's where you get yourself into trouble with the SEC and the state
 
commission are you looking to achieve massive success in your life without dealing with costly investment nightmares if yes then this is the podcast for you here we provide engineers and busy professionals all the secrets and strategies to create multiple streams of income build generational wealth and live a meaningful Life by Design here's your host Ted Patel welcome back to another episode of decoding cash fla podcast and today we have a very special guest Seth Bradley who is a Securities attorney and
 
a real estate syndicator he's a chief legal officer at tribe West and a managing partner at rise law and law Capital Partners uh Seth is also a host of passive income attorney podcast and uh today we'll like to you know get his perspective on as an attorney I would say uh on the ways different ways to raise capitals and you know what to look into or where to be careful why is why rais Capital Etc so we'll dive deep into those aspect as well as touch based upon uh the pros and cons of passive income
 
so uh Seth welcome to decoding cash flow it's a pleasure having you on the show Absolutely Ted really appreciate you having me on man looking forward to it all right great so said before we uh dive deep into your Niche uh can you give our listeners a little bit background about yourself what do you do and how did you get started in the real estate for sure man I I'll give you the expedited version but um you know I grew up in West Virginia grew up blue collar my dad was a coal miner he's a retired
 
coal miner my mom's a retired school teacher so you know I didn't come from a an entrepreneurship or a real estate background uh blue collar background and you know that kind of sent me into a path of you know full-time W2 and trying to figure out what the best job I can get because I didn't really think of you know entrepreneurship and owning assets and things like that were really an option um so I went into med school um hated it I went for about a year and a half uh dropped out on my own valtion um
 
ended up actually getting my MBA after that and then into law school where I really started to thrive I really liked law school a lot I liked you know I never wanted to litigate but I was always interested in business and transactions and real estate and those sorts of things so um getting that that legal background gave me kind of that really solid foundation to you know honestly at a young age getting myself into into doors uh where I probably didn't belong you know when you say you're an attorney you're a real estate
 
attorney or Securities attorney um you know when you're younger it's like oh really that's really cool um and you kind of you know eat your foot in the door so that's really how I got started um I worked in big law for about six six almost seven years um worked at most recently uh one of the top three law firms in the world um uh you know it it was a great experience gave me a really good background and foundation on Securities Law and kind of that that highest level of sophistication and transactions um and you know allowed me
 
to you know save a little bit of money and really kind of start going out on my own and start purchasing real estate and start investing in syndications passively and then actively um and then eventually start my own firm uh my own Boutique Securities Law Firm that's awesome I love it so you know a lot of people uh you know they they start their investment journey by maybe at at the initial level they buy a small multif family or do a Fix and Flip you know uh how how did you manage to get into syndication directly or what
 
what what was the path that you took you know what inspired you to get into syndication directly while being an attorney in sort of going through through the normal route of you know starting small and then getting into multi family syndication yeah well I'll tell you what Ted I actually took a I took the traditional route man I started you know like a lot of people do I started really small I started listening to Bigger Pockets right you listen to Bigger Pockets you started thinking oh I've got to uh own rental property so um
 
as soon as I got my first big Law Firm job I actually house hacked into a duplex lived in one half uh my wife was flexible enough with me to be able to do that so she didn't mind living in a duplex and living in one half renting the other half out and having them pay the mortgage and that was kind of the beginning and then I just started um like a lot of people uh you know doing fix and flips and doing fixing buy and holds and wholesaling a little bit here and there and then moving your way up to
 
uh you know small multif family and then as I got more sophisticated as an investor and more sophisticated as an attorney and started looking at the clients that I have because I'm working at Big law firms and you know these clients are the folks like like us now right like they're taking down you know $20 million properties hundred million funds things like that um and you just start thinking man I'm I'm not thinking big enough um I need to go bigger how do I do that um you know having that attorney background in real estate
 
Securities really helped me out um but I was still kind of you know a little bit hesitant I didn't really know that side of the business I knew the legal side I knew the closing side but I didn't know the business side um so I started investing passively first and that was after I spoke to some people and they said that's probably the best thing to do you know I had a good job so I I was able to afford it so I invested passively in some deals kind of got my feet wet that way started to understand
 
from you know the investor standpoint what that looked like to invest in a in a syndication or a fund and then at that point I realized hey I I can do this um so I actually started leveraging my Securities background um to partner with other operators um and get an equity position in the company um you know bringing in investors I'm doing the due diligence doing the uh some of the underwriting and and then also you know bringing my Securities uh Securities skills of the table which everybody needs when they're raising
 
capital okay all right that sounds great man so so you did take a traditional route as you mentioned right you yeah maybe maybe didn't uh you know stay in that U uh field for quite long time you just jump to syndication yeah pretty quick hacking yeah pretty quick yeah yeah I mean I built a small portfolio and like I said went into some smaller multifamilies maybe took about three or four years and I started investing passively and then you know by the time I started investing passively I was already looking to go to
 
the active side within you know a couple of months so are you an attorney do you still practice law I do um kind of as a you know it's not like a a full-time gig but I do have my own Boutique Law Firm raise law where you know I I you know if it's down the middle I'll take on the work um you know if it's a real estate syndication if it's a real estate fund or it's a fund of fund I put those together for people U you know I've been doing that for you know over a decade now so it's like breaking sticks at this
 
point but I've really been able to leverage my uh Securities attorney background to um some of these other positions with uh startups so startups are really exciting for me um you know they've those are home run swings right like real estate is kind of like singles like let's let's hit singles let's keep that batting average High um you know these are you know a little bit safer they're secure um when you get into the startup world it's like your chance of failure is pretty high whereas real estate your chance of failure is on the
 
low side um but with with startups it's pretty high but you know that that kind of appeases my risk appetite um to get involved with these startups and I've been able to to like I said leverage my security skills and my background as a a syndicator and a fund manager um to become Chief legal officer for trib bestest so trib bestest um traditionally was a group investing platform and uh you know I was speaking at a conference in the bvis with uh Travis Smith who is the CEO and we really just hit it off
 
and our wives hit it off and you know they were trying to Pivot from this group investing platform to um you know try to try to enter the Securities and the syndication market and I and they were looking at like a cgp model and I said look Travis this this is going to fun funds right like you know this was this was about a year and a half ago um some things were going on in background with the SEC uh doing some investigations and things like that for some well-known folks and you know the market was starting to to see hey we
 
need to we need to start paying more attention to these Securities regulations and maybe get away from the cgp model and the solution all along has always been fund of funds it's just fund of funds is expensive it's hard to put together it's you know all those different things um but what we've done to try best is be able to kind of package that into a fun fun in a box all right yeah we'll we'll speak um get more uh into that fun of fund models you know but before we dive deep into that I just wanted to che check few
 
things like you you mentioned uh startups so in addition to the real estate you also do raise capital for the startups is that so so I'm not raising capital for the startups I'm actually uh fractional clo for not only tribe vest but two other startups one called clavis which is also a real estate uh technology software platform um and then stack rck battery which is a battery manufacturing company so think um you know Tesla power wall it's similar to that it's actually a newer technology that we use a more powerful
 
technology um but it's very similar in nature where you pair that with solar so we're we're a solar manufacturing or a battery Manufacturing Company um and again these are you know these are I would call them somewhat mature startups in in that world I mean um you know we're well over a million and a half in revenue of a stack rack and um we just went live with a fully automated software with with clavis and then triest is of is is really headed towards series a right now so you know all three of them are progressing really
 
well um and looking forward to seeing how I can help help ignite that okay sounds good man all right so now moving on to this uh triest right tell me something about uh a little bit more about what do you do at Tri like you said you have a fund in the Box model yeah now uh so so any any group of investors they can come together create their own fund and they can invest in a operators fund is is that though how it works with triest yeah to a certain extent I mean I think it it helps to think about kind of
 
the history of group investing so traditionally tested what they called group investing it's more similar what you described let's say me you and three buddies put in 100,000 bucks and we've got 500,000 bucks now to get over maybe an investment minimum to invest in a syndication or a fund um and that's it so we just we leveraged each other's Capital to um you know get into a deal at maybe a a large minimum or maybe that uh you know we got a bet we got better financial terms because we put together
 
half a million instead of investing 50,000 bucks or something um the the ISS is there is is no one gets paid right like we're all just putting our money together investing together and it's really set up like a joint venture we all have equal voting rights based on how much money we put in um you know we we make decisions together we all decided to invest in that one deal and we could all decide together to invest in a different deal if we actually want to um but nobody's getting paid um because when you start getting paid now
 
you're talking about Securities laws when you start getting paid you should be licensed or find an exemption so um you know you need a broker's dealer license or be in raia under certain circumstances so that's where you start getting into that um a lot more complicated when that starts to happen and that's what tribe vest pivoted to last year is hey we still have the group investing option but a lot of times what happens is one of those people in the group is the one doing all the work right like one of the person is the one
 
that found tribe vest and is like hey I found this platform I'm gonna let's all put our money together and then you know he's the one collecting the money and badgering people to you know do the distributions and the taxes and all those sorts of things there's somebody putting in some time and effort for that and they at some point they're like hey if I do this next time like I want to get paid for it but how can I do that um you have to find the right uh Capital raising vehicle to be able to legally
 
pay yourself and we've created that with trivest and that kind of coincided with what I mentioned earlier which was kind of the industry pivot away from the cgp model um when I say CP model I mean I mean the abuse of the cgp model you can certainly partner with other partners and buy a property together and raise Capital together and it's perfectly fine but as you know all you all need to be active partners and as you also know many times people put these things together not everybody's an active
 
partner some people are just coming into the deal just to raise capital and then they don't have anything to do with the operations or the decision-making or anything like that and that's where you get yourself into trouble with the SEC and the state commissions and the solution to that is is well first of all just don't do it but the solution to it if you still want to raise capital is to create a fund of funds um but the problem with the fund of funds model is now these former cgps have all these new
 
responsibilities they have to find a Securities attorney they have to put together offering documents they have to find a CPA they have to start a business they have to get a business banking account they have to manage their investors they have to find a portal they have to do all the things that a a real active GP would normally have to do um but typically you know the the active partner is the one doing it for them now they have to do it all themselves so it's a lot more work so in short um it as you mentioned right cgps um they
 
need to be active in the syndication you know if you're Co GP and know any of the property you need to be active and I I also seen and you might have also seen uh there are certain projects where there are 10 or 15 different C GPS and only five or six takes responsibilities other are just you know raising fund for that uh particular property so this helps uh this model uh you know helps the inactive coach I would say Partners to get the fees that they need as well as raise Capital without getting into
 
Crosshair of s that's right that's right and the only reason that it's it's been going on for so long now and I'll say since like I'll say 2012 because that's when the jobs Act pass and you were starting to be able to advertise for um these syndication deals and things like that um is because real estate's been so fantastic right like it's been going up up up since the crash in 2008 um and nobody's nobody's suing anyone for the most part because their Investments are great right up until let's say that
 
little blip in 2020 from but then last year when the interest rates started going up some of these projects started to fail and that's when investors start getting angry because they're not getting you know their distributions and they start asking questions and that's when you're seeing people you know they're getting Capital calls and and they're starting to you know get sued by passive investors that's when these things start to fall apart because if if everybody's happy there's there's you know nobody's going
 
to get caught so to speak you know what I mean like nobody's going to find out that you raised Capital illegally unless somebody's upset and starting last year that's when people started getting upset and that's when you're starting to see some people um you know get exposed for raising capital in the wrong way what what are the fees that uh you can charge in this fund of fund model what kind of fees because as a cgp there are many different venues right you you can charge the finding fees operations
 
management fees uh at the end you can also take a part of the profit uh you know yeah so a lot of comes down to how you structure it right like these are these are very complicated Securities regulations that have a lot of layers on top of them because when you get into a fund of funds you're not just dealing with um what people are familiar with 506 C and 506b exemptions which are the 1930s acts you also get into the 1940s acts when you start dealing with fund of funds um and those are uh the invest the
 
investment advisor Act and the Investment Company act so there are lots of nuances to that and how you can get paid but if you're structured correctly you can get paid the same way so you can get paid an upfront fee you can get paid a um you know an ongoing annual fee percentage and you can get paid a profit split like basically all the same types of fees that you would collect as a cgp you can also collect as a fund manager but again there's a lot of nuances to that okay all right so um for for the new investors right
 
uh uh when when they start into this passive invest investment world you know uh they are you know they get a little intimidated by seeing all the different uh documents that the operator sends them uh the ppms and all the other legal documents right um and so based on your perspective like you know you're an attorney right so what what are the things that the investor needs to checking these legal documents to make sure there are no red flags or to be cautious of something what what are those things that you would like to
 
tell to our listeners for sure and it's tough right like these are not short documents I mean you know the the subscription booklet so to speak that includes let's say the subscription agreement the operating agreement and the the PPM it can be minimum 100 Pages it's probably going to be closer to 200 pages in totality and that's in intimidating I mean that's intimidating for myself who is an attorney let alone you know a passive investor that says hey I I thought I was just going to invest passively like this reading a
 
200-page legal document is not passive to me so you do need to be educated on kind of the things to look for and you know you should read the whole thing unfortunately I you should at least skim it over and the more you do it the more you'll get comfortable with it and the more when you see that see it the next time and the time after that you'll be able to get through it quicker and quicker because they all look you know they all have the the same basic parts but I you know I would say some things
 
to look for you know first of all make sure that everything matches so let's say the what call the offering memorandum or the pitch deck that the the marketing piece that the operator puts out you know they're going to have their projected returns their fees the proforma they're going to have some other information in there make sure that those numbers match the numbers in the PPM and the PPM is is a Disclosure document so it's a legal document but it's not it's not the final legal document the final document is going to
 
be the operating agreement so you really want to make sure that the the marketing piece or the pitch deck matches the PPM and the PPM matches what the operating agreement says and ultimately whatever the operating agreement says is what goes so if you take the time to read anything it should be the operating agreement even though that will probably be the hardest um hardest document to read because it will be completely in legal ease but that's the controlling document so if if the pitch deck says
 
something um and then the op agreement says another thing the operating agreement is what controls um so you know some big things to look out for are are voting rights you know typically as a passive investor you're not going to have a lot of voting rights but there should be some sort of a mechanism to remove the manager in very extreme circumstances so if there's you know some sort of gross negligence or fraud or misrepresentation or you know things like that then there should be a mechanism to um remove the manager and
 
that's usually done through some sort of a majority vote or super majority vote Plus you know proving that they did commit those actions um again it should be a pretty extreme case but there should be a mechanism there for that um obviously you know make sure that your Fe you know what the fees are going to be you need to know what fees you're paying you need to know um what that waterfall looks like meaning you need to know how you're going to get paid as the passive investor make sure you understand that and make sure it matches
 
your understanding and if you have questions about it make sure you ask the fund manager or ask the operator um to explain it to you in in um you know in non-legal e language so that you can understand it um and then on top of that you know another important thing that you're seeing nowadays is capital calls make sure you know what the capital call language is so if there's some sort of a a demand for Capital from the operator or from the fund manager what triggers that is it mandatory is it discretionary
 
um is it up to a vote it could be up to a vote um just make sure you know the mechanism for that and that you're comfortable with it yeah and if uh if your share gets diluted if you don't contribute to the capital call that's right that's right and it's perfectly fine to get diluted if you don't contribute I mean that's typical like if you don't contribute um you should get diluted right but what you need to look out for is if you get deluded Pro uh based on how much you didn't contribute which is fine um it's
 
typical but you'll see some uh penalty Provisions where you get diluted even more so than than prata and that's where it can be a problem um so just look out for those types of provisions and um in in these documents right the legal documents what if if you take fun of fund model if you take like separate 506b or C right what what are the extra documents in each of these sections that uh uh any any person who wants to start uh raising Capital uh needs to be aware of yeah so if you do a fund of fund you
 
you just have to think of it like it's your own syndication it's your own fund so you're going to have your own separate set of offering documents or subscription booklet whatever you want to call it so there's going to be two sets and looking at it from the passive investor standpoint if you're the passive investor that's going to be investing in the fun of fund there's going to be two of documents you're going to have to look at you're going to have to look at the fund of fund documents um which is going to have the
 
PPM the operating agreement and the subscription agreement and then you're also going to have to look at the offering documents for the um for the Target deal that the fun of fund is investing in so there's going to be two set so uh double the work um but you know there there are some benefits to that and obviously if you're investing in a fund of fund then you have a certain level of trust with that particular fund manager which is you know probably why you're investing with them anyways and sometimes you can get a
 
better deal I mean not all the time but every once in a while you can um so there you know you'll have to review two sets of offering documents but at the end of the day you know it's like I said you'll get better and better at as time goes by as a syndicator uh what what are the different uh assets that you are involved with I know multif family is there anything else that you do syndication for yeah I've done I've done a lot of different things um multif family I've done industrial I've done ret shopping
 
centers um RV parks um different funds right now um I'm actually doing a California U fund so accessory dwelling units so we're doing those in Riverside County it's a $20 million fund um and we're buying single family houses and turning it into a basically a three or four Plex um and sometimes you split the lot and you end up with six to eight units on that thing and they're incredible um it's it it's really the only thing you can get done here in California um with you know Little Resistance because everybody knows
 
California is the king of Regulation so but for some reason they think the adus are the the solution for the housing crisis out here so they let these things get permitted pretty quickly and it's an excellent opportunity it may be might be a short window but right now it's it's a fantastic uh fantastic asset right and uh so you only invest in California you're only focused or are you look at the other properties on out of state also oh I look out of state for sure this is actually the first thing
 
that I've done outside of you know a few single families and condos um in California generally I was I was one of those people that always said hey you can't really invest in California doesn't cash flow it never makees sense um I've actually came around quite a bit to that you know now that I'm I'm a more mature investor and you know you're in you're in New Jersey so you see like you know that big appreciation play as well um I just remember like bigger Pockets used to be they used to preach oh it's
 
all about cash flow right like you know all cash flow don't don't invest for appreciation but you need to invest for both I mean I think you need to invest for cash flow because you need to cover your bases I mean you don't want a negatively cash flowing asset that's for sure you don't want something that's going to cost you money but when you invest in places like New York and Coastal California and you know Beach areas things like that um City centers over the long run they're going to appreciate and they're going to
 
appreciate a lot I mean you might have you know more of a up and down um but at the end of the day it's going to be much higher whereas you know when you invest in which I do I invest in the midwest I invest in the South um those places a little bit more um you know subtle and they're going to increase in in price as well and in appreciation but it's just you know it's a lot more slow um and you might get a little bit more cash flow so you know I like to have a good mix but you know if if you're not strapped for
 
cash um and you're really trying to build long long-term wealth um that appreciation play is is really important absolutely I can't agree with you Mora because it's all about numbers right first of all yeah you don't don't have to have a negative cash as you mentioned uh the other thing is regardless of which state it is like California New Jersey New York uh of course you know there are some landlord friendly States some are not but as long as you know how to navigate those Waters you'll be fine for sure for sure and
 
then and you know obviously Force appreciation in everything I mean I don't buy anything that doesn't have some some upside from rolling up your sleeves for sure so um now you you are an ATT Securities attorney do you see in in in next few years do you see any uh any changes upcoming changes with regards to real estate indication like there are you know some more uh rules or you know coming in you know I I I don't want to get political but I I do think that politics have a a pretty big influence
 
on this um you know I I vote for policy um I don't vote for the the uh person I vote for the policy and I'm in business I'm in real estate so I like to vote for people that are going to be favorable for me so you know this recently proposed massive capital gains tax is absolutely insane to me so things like that really tough to tough to judge right but like you know if it let's say it does go towards um the Republican side let's just say that it it's known that there they want less government oversight um including the SEC um
 
because you've seen the SEC pick up in the last four years um with oversight you've seen it o you know increased um employees with the IRS things like that so that does influence things um especially with the SEC right because we're talking about syndications we're talking about funds it'll make people a little bit more uh trepid to do anything right um if if people if it's more of a free market and you know they're not too worried about the SEC you're going to see more business you're going to see
 
more funds you're going to see more syndications um you know looming is the capital gains thing that is huge that will that will be massive for the real estate market whichever way that goes now even if it even if it goes towards uh the left it's not to say that those laws are going to pass I mean that's that's going to be a really difficult thing to pass anyway ways but if it does that can that can dramatically influence it um and there are other things that are out of control as well I mean things
 
like um you know world wars like things like that you can't predict control you cannot predict those things so you really just you can't focus on politics you can't focus on things that are out of control you have to do what what you can do to to make yourself better and to better your business um but you know I I see the the Securities um the Securities industry um you know funds fun to funds raising capital for Real Estate those sorts of things I can only see it going up I mean there even even with some headwinds from
 
different things from different regulations or different things that are happening around the world um you know just there's a massive there's there there's a massive movement towards it so I think it'll continue to to go up over time okay all right so um before we get to the final round of questions I had one topic that I want to touch based upon you know you being a syndicator if you like to give a listeners a little bit uh overview on the strategies that you use to raise Capital sure sure man
 
um you know and I actually have a really good perspective working at tribe vest now because we deal with so many different uh Capital raisers and fund managers and Lead sponsors and we're getting to see who raises a lot of capital who doesn't who's able to perform who can't and you know you start to see the people that are successful and the people that are not and you know what we're trends that we're seeing are people that already have an existing Network are usually successful out of the gate right like if you're a doctor a
 
lawyer an engineer um maybe even a software engineer someone like that that already has a a wealthy Network those people are generally very successful at raising Capital because they have wealthy friends and it's easy for them to raise uh you know half a million bucks a million bucks out of the gate um that's number one but that only lasts for so long I mean number two once you kind of exhaust those resources you really need to focus on um referrals from those people that invested with you and hopefully you did a good job and you
 
keep your Communications up um which is really important too I should say that keeping those investor Communications are super important and hardly anybody does it you would you've got once they invest with you you got to fall up on regular basis that's right man provide the reports you wouldn't believe it I mean you would think that that that would be one of the easiest things but it's not because everybody has shiny object syndrome and as soon as you close a deal you're moving on to the next one
 
and you're not worried about those other investors well that's your best source of new investors are your current ones for referrals because if they give you a referral that's that's golden that's your easiest way um and then secondarily you're going to have to figure out a way to get in front of strangers and new investors so whatever that looks like if that looks like um going on other people's podcasts or starting your own podcast or speaking at events or um you know if you're a doctor start going to
 
conferences and just talking about um you know what you're investing in and what you're doing and the deals you're deals you're doing things like that you you've got to network you've got to get out there and you've got to figure out a way to get in front of of new people and and new potential investors any any specific uh um tools or you know softwares you recommend um you know me personally I I just use active campaign for my CRM um I've seen a bunch of people use different ones um go high level is great
 
as well because it's all in one so you can create your your emails your funnels CRM your courses if you have one you can manage a mastermind on there you can do it all on there um it doesn't do anything exceptional but it does everything pretty good so that's that's kind of the knock on it but yeah those are the two big ones that that I use same here I'm also good uh I'm I'm also into active campaign oh cool yep yeah yep that's a good tool yeah all right uh so uh Seth loving this conversation you know but uh I also need
 
to be mindful of your time so I would like to move on to the final round of questions uh is there anything else that you like to tell to a list us before we move to the final questions um I would just say you know I've seen this journey before I know a lot of your in your a lot of your listeners are passive investors and a lot of times when I give a keynote when I'm speaking it's a it's two passive investors so and I talk about the journey from passive investing to raising Capital um because that's kind
 
of the the natural progression it's like you invest passively for a while then your friends ask you about that deal and oh man where do you find these Investments blah blah blah and you know eventually you're like man maybe I can raise some Capital but you know doing that transition from passive investor to Capital razor um has never been easier right and especially with um you know I'm going to plug tribe here because it's a done for you product so when you have your five wealthy friends or your
 
10 wealthy friends that want to invest in a deal but you want to figure out how you can actually get paid for it legally triest does all the stuff that I was talking about doing before that's just a pain like getting your CPA getting a Securities attorney doing your offering documents starting a business we do all that for you we onboard your investors we do everything I mean it's it's a white glove service so you that didn't exist a few years ago um so it's it's easier than ever to make that transition
 
from passive investor to raising capital for somebody like you Ted that's awesome man uh you know it's always good to uh see like you know people simplifying the things less time less money less energy to put in and you get the same kind of returns and uh you know for sure yep uh let's move on to the final round of questions are you ready let's do it all right pretty easy ones okay so all right man I'll take your word for it better not stop me here so uh what are the main source of information main source of information
 
to learn and grow um you know I listen to a lot of podcasts I I do a lot of audio um if it's and especially like Audible for books and then podcast obviously for shorter content um and then if if I think it's a really good audible book then I'll actually buy the hard copy and and try to read it I won't say that I always get to it because I just don't have time but I like to listen to stuff while I'm working out and running and doing stuff like that um but mainly podcasts to just stay up up to date on
 
things and you know I've kind of actually gotten away from Real Estate specific podcast and more into like business things like um you know Alex horos and and those types of guys that talk about business generally I think it's a good flavor um to mix it up with awesome uh what is the one book that you'll recommend would had the most impact on your life or on your business yeah I mean you know it's Rich Dad Poor Dad I mean that's for sure I I'll say another one though because I would say everybody probably says that I
 
mean It Rich Dad Poor Dad definitely had the the most impact I mean it's I think it has that influence on a lot of people when they read that book they're like it's so simple but it just flips the light and it just changes the way that you look at kind of Life generally um but I would say this one it's a little flu flu but Miracle equation by Hal Hal Elrod um who did the miracle morning um this one came after that but it it's great because it's it just the the main line which is unwavering Faith plus
 
extraordinary effort equals Miracles I mean if you just kind of I use that as a mantra because it's like you know gets tough right like and you've got to be consistent and you've got to do it over and over again and when you're an entrepreneur or you're a business owner or even if you're an investor and you're trying to get out of your W2 you're 9 to5 like you don't know if it's going to have a happy ending so you have to have unwavering faith and if you do have that faith and you do keep putting in the
 
consistent effort it's going to work out in the end yeah absolutely I have read that book too it's one of my favorite also and all right so what is the one advice that you like to give to at least any business or investment advice yeah um pay for help pay for Speed um you know you can you can sit here and um figure it out yourself you can go to YouTube University you can go to chat GPT um you can listen to all the podcasts and read the books but nothing's going to accelerate your time like getting a coach or a mentor that's
 
already doing the things that you want to do um and don't be if you can't get them on board for free then pay them to do it um make sure you know what you're doing because a lot of people out there you know call themselves coaches and they're they're not they don't know what they're doing so be careful but if you find a good one don't be afraid to to pay money for that it it just blows my mind that you know people pay 40 50 $60,000 a year for a college education but then for you know a fourth of that
 
they could get direct Hands-On mentorship from somebody that's already doing exactly what they want to do and people don't want to do it it's you know they don't be afraid to pay for Speed don't be afraid to pay for help yeah just check out in detail what the coach has done for you know what exactly he's doing and what what he has done for different people yeah of course if it fits your yeah all right uh SE uh it was a pleasure talking to you and thanks a lot for all the details and information that
 
you provided to thanks Ted really appreciate it man oh before that I just missed one part how can decoding cash FL listeners get in touch with you for sure man I usually update my Links at Seth Paul bradley.com you can find all my social media links there and you can find links to tribe vest and and other things that I'm involved in if I'm raising capital for anything in particular but that's that's the best place to find all my links South paa bradley.com awesome man all right thanks a lot for
 
coming on the show my friend all right Ted appreciate it man thanks all right take it thanks for listening to decoding cash flow brought to you by Aster Capital if you found value in this episode then please share it with someone who you think could benefit from it and make sure to ask on what you've learned if you want Ted Patel to personally help you reach your goals then feel free to set up a one-on-one call with him also visit us at Aster capital.com for more free resources content of this podcast is for
 
informational purposes only as always please consult your own adviser before making any investment decisions or setting a course of action thanks again for joining us on this episode of decoding cash flow and we'll catch you in the next episode
Links from the Show and Guest Info and Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4xTU9T6CVA&t=375s
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/astre-capital_astrecapital-podcast-finance-activity-7250610044331769857-4KgJ?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAFY-6nMBbbX5J6KeuEtIMcA9tcRG4F_1ItE
https://www.instagram.com/p/DA_3q-BOWJm/
https://x.com/AstreCapital/status/1844844972295741635
https://fb.watch/zpTx6laLaU/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/astre-capital/
https://www.facebook.com/AstreCapital/
https://x.com/AstreCapital
https://www.instagram.com/astrecapital/
Seth Bradley’s Links:
https://x.com/sethbradleyesq
https://www.youtube.com/@sethbradleyesq
www.facebook.com/sethbradleyesq
https://www.threads.com/@sethbradleyesq
https://www.instagram.com/sethbradleyesq/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethbradleyesq/
https://passiveincomeattorney.com/seth-bradley/
https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/sethbradleyesq
https://medium.com/@sethbradleyesq
https://www.tiktok.com/@sethbradleyesq?lang=en

In this episode, Seth Bradley interviews Eli Facenda about what sets him apart in the ultra-niche space of travel hacking for entrepreneurs. Eli Facenda explains that he and his team truly live what they teach—they are entrepreneurs themselves who have traveled extensively and understand the time and complexity challenges faced by business owners. Seth Bradley and Eli Facenda discuss how their credibility comes from personal experience, deep destination knowledge, and practicing what they preach. Eli Facenda shares one actionable tip to move closer to a dream life: block time on your calendar now for your dream trip, because unless you schedule your fun first, it won’t happen.
Links to Watch and Subscribe:
https://youtu.be/oLrxBcm_WFU
Bullet Point Highlights:
Eli separates himself by living what he teaches, he travels extensively and is a business owner, just like his clients
His team has traveled to 50–100 countries, giving them expert-level insight on global destinations
They bring real-world credibility, personalization, and strategic value to clients
Most travel "gurus" don’t walk the walk; Eli's team does
Actionable advice: Pick your dream destination, put it on the calendar, and commit
Quote inspiration: “If you don’t schedule your fun first, it won’t happen”
Entrepreneurs must prioritize life experiences, not wait for “the right time”
Transcript:
Eli, you're clearly in the top 1 % of what you do. I don't even know if there's that many people out there that do what you do at all, period. So clearly in the top 0.0001%, what is it about you that separates you from the rest of the field?
 
I think it's our ability to actually live what we preach. This is something where, you know, there are other fantastic people that talk about credit card points, but very few of them are actually business owners, like that's who we serve, and very few of them are actually traveling in the way that they're trying to help people travel. So we've done both. I've built multiple businesses, so I understand the...
 
psychology and the relatability of how you want to think about travel and point in the various stresses in your life, the limitations on time and complexity. So yeah, so not only have we really walked the walk with actually living what we preach, but we also understand that psychology of what it's like to be a business owner, your limitations on time and complexity and all that stuff. And because we're talking about travel, people also want to know like what's actually in store for me in this destination. I've been to 50 countries now and my business partner has been to almost a hundred.
 
We have other team members who are all over 30, 40, 50 countries. So we've been to a lot of the destinations around the world that we're advising people to go to. So we know the ins and outs, best places to stay, hidden gems, top restaurants, stuff like that, that really add another layer of personalization and true experience into the service. So I think those are the things that really make us most credible in this space.
 
Dude, it's so important, right? Like there's so many, you know, there's so much content out there now. There's gurus and coaches and mentors, whatever you want to call them. Like the ones that are truly valuable and that people should pay attention to are the ones that are actually practicing what they preach, right? The ones that aren't just selling you education or aren't just selling you a product. Like they're actually, they've done what they're selling and they continue to
 
Enjoy or do.
 
100%. Yeah, if you're a living embodiment of what you do, makes it that much easier to communicate it and sell it because you just are the thing you're selling. Yeah.
 
Absolutely. What's one thing someone listening could do today to get 1 % closer to their dream life?
 
One thing that would be the easiest is to spend 30 minutes, go on Instagram, go on your favorite social media site, go on some travel blog site, look for your dream destination, then pull up your calendar and put a time on the calendar where you're committing to go. One of my favorite quotes is from Tim Ferriss, I forget the exact quote, but basically the idea is that if you don't schedule your fun first, it won't happen.
 
because your business and your life will take up as much space as you allow it to. So most people find that I'll take the trip when it's convenient. I'll take the trip when I have more time. That time is never coming until you make it a priority. So the one thing they can do to get closer to their dream life is to just make a more bold commitment to putting the time on the calendar and be like, I am going and make some sort of investment, whether you're telling someone, whether you're putting some money down, whether you're learn the point stuff, that's gonna be the biggest leverage you can make.
 
to make sure that you actually follow through on taking these trips and then you'll find how to get there on points if you need to from there.
 
100 % man, gotta put it, people, entrepreneurs, people like us, we work in all the time, you've gotta put it, put it in your schedule. You've gotta block it out.
 
Absolutely, 100%.
 
Links from the Show and Guest Info and Links:
Seth Bradley’s Links:
https://x.com/sethbradleyesq
https://www.youtube.com/@sethbradleyesq
www.facebook.com/sethbradleyesq
https://www.threads.com/@sethbradleyesq
https://www.instagram.com/sethbradleyesq/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethbradleyesq/
https://passiveincomeattorney.com/seth-bradley/
https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/sethbradleyesq
https://medium.com/@sethbradleyesq
https://www.tiktok.com/@sethbradleyesq?lang=en
Eli Facenda Links:
https://www.instagram.com/elitravelguy/
https://x.com/elitravelguy
https://www.linkedin.com/in/eli-facenda/
https://www.facebook.com/eli.facenda
https://www.youtube.com/@elifacenda
https://www.threads.com/@elitravelguy
https://www.skool.com/@eli-facenda-5305?t=posts

Title: How You Can Win Trump’s Tariff War 
In this episode, Seth Bradley discusses the potential economic implications of President Trump’s aggressive tariff policies and how they could present unique opportunities for wealth building in America amid global economic upheaval. Seth Bradley explains that tariffs, essentially taxes on imports, serve as economic tools that can protect domestic industries but may also create broader economic challenges if not applied thoughtfully. Seth Bradley outlines the dynamics of Trump’s tariff strategy, including a systematic and reciprocal approach to trade that has the potential to reshape relationships with various countries and impact investment opportunities.
Seth Bradley emphasizes that while the stock market is experiencing volatility and media outlets are reacting negatively, there are underlying opportunities that savvy investors should seize. He advocates for focusing on U.S. manufacturing and infrastructure, energy independence, and advancements in AI and automation as key areas for investment. The video suggests that although immediate challenges such as inflation and retaliation from trade partners are likely, the long-term outlook points to a potential reshoring of American industry, a reemergence of economic sovereignty, and ultimately, an empowered U.S. economy.
Links to Watch and Subscribe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgWxz_V0lPk&list=PLSfheWyV7beFqERLX4ebBUJ4SmzmF6z8e&index=2
Bullet Point Highlights:
Market Volatility: The stock market sees a significant downturn as tariffs take effect, presenting both challenges and opportunities.
Tariff Strategy: Trump’s tariffs are described as calculated economic warfare, designed to compel countries to negotiate trade terms.
Manufacturing Reshoring: The video advocates for investing in U.S.-based manufacturing as companies look to bring jobs back onshore.
Energy Independence: Emerging opportunities in U.S. energy production are highlighted amid tariffs hurting foreign oil imports.
AI and Automation: The potential for AI-driven solutions to replace expensive offshore labor costs is discussed as a strategic investment avenue.
Investment Strategies: Three key strategies are proposed for capitalizing on the unique economic landscape: investing in infrastructure, energy, and AI technologies.
Vision for the Future: The potential long-term benefits of Trump’s tariff policies are framed as a chance to reset trade imbalances and promote U.S. economic strength.
Transcript:
(Seth Bradley)
Trump just broke the global economy and it might be the best thing to happen to America in decades. The stock market is crashing. China, Mexico, Canada, they're retaliating. The mainstream media is melting down. But the truth, if you understand what's really going on, this might be the single greatest opportunity of the decade to build wealth. So, let's break it down. No fluff, just facts. What's up, big brains? Welcome back to Raise the Bar, where I simplify complex money, legal, and political moves so you
 
can make power plays in real time. I'm Seth Bradley, securities attorney, founder, and investor, and I quit a multiple six-f figureure big law job to pursue entrepreneurship and a life without limits. Today, I'm giving you the truth about tariffs, Trump's Liberation Day, and how to turn this global shakeup into your personal leverage point. All right, let's get it. Let's start out with the basics. So, what exactly is a tariff? At its core, a tariff is a tax on imports. That's right. It is a tax. When a foreign
 
company sells goods into the US, the government slaps on a tax, usually a percentage of the total value. So, if a car from Germany costs 50k and there's a 10% tariff, then that car now costs $55,000 to bring into the US. So, who pays the tariff? Well, it's US importers, not the foreign shippers. And yes, it trickles down to you, the consumer, right here in the US. But tariffs aren't just taxes. They're economic weapons. And right now, Trump's using them with either surgical precision or as a nuclear bomb,
 
depending on how you look at it. All right. To know where you're going to go, you have to know where you come from. Tariffs go way back in American history. It's not anything new. And in fact, before the IRS, tariffs were how we paid for the entire federal government, rather than through, let's say, income taxes, property, capital gains taxes, and all these other taxes that we all just know and love today. Tariffs haven't always resulted in good or bad for the US. It's a mixed bag. Alexander Hamilton pushed for tariffs to protect
 
US industry. Success, yes. Abraham Lincoln used them to industrialize the North during the Civil War. Success, yes. But in the 1930s, the Smooth Holly Tariff Act backfired hard, triggering a trade war that deepened the Great Depression. So, not always successful. Tariffs can protect jobs and industries, but if they're too extreme or poorly timed, they can tank the economy. So, the key is strategy. And whether or not you believe in Trump, he's playing chess here, not checkers. Something you never
 
used to associate with Trump is humble, but he has come a long way and is humble enough to at least have some of the greatest economic minds in his corner. So, they have a business-minded mentality, and that's exactly what this is. We need to stop treating the government like it's aing goodwill. It's not here to give you for free, and it's certainly not here to take what's yours. It's here to work for you, for what the people want, and decide through a democratic process what to do. Once upon a time, we literally became a
 
country because we wanted independence, self-sufficiency, and freedom. We chose to break free from overt taxation, oppression, control, regulation, and government oversight. What's happening in 2025? In case you missed it, let's get caught up right now. Trump has declared Liberation Day and followed up with the most aggressive global tariff policy in modern history. A minimum of 10% tariffs on every import into the US, up to 60% tariffs on China. That changes every single day though. Reciprocal
 
tariffs on all countries. If a country charges us 25%, we charge them 25% back. But that's not exactly true. And we'll get into more of that later. Canada and Mexico not exempt. This isn't just about China. It's about a full global reset. So the kicker is formula based. Trump's trade team built a publicly disclosed algorithm that adjusts tariff rates based on countries how countries treat the US exports. It's dynamic. is constantly changing. It updates monthly. This isn't random. It's calculated
 
economic warfare. All right, next. Now that it's in effect, what's happening? Well, you're seeing it. Wall Street is panicking. S&P 500 is down 14% in the first two weeks. Tech stocks are plummeting. Elon Musk just posted on X that supply chain realignment is overdue and this pain is necessary. Mexico is negotiating. Canada's threatening retaliation, but also showing signs of blinking. China, they're digging the toes in, but there's exports that are suffering. You just won't hear all this stuff on CNBC, but you know, many of
 
these global players are coming to the table. Tariffs are doing exactly what they're designed to do. Force negotiation, good or bad. Trump's move is forcing every country to rethink dependence on the US consumer. And not just that, it's forcing us to rethink how we depend on them. All right, let's set the record straight on a few of these common things that are floating around here. One, tariffs only hurt the other country. That's totally wrong. US businesses and consumers feel the sting, and we will. We are, at least
 
at first. Sometimes you're going to hear this is just economic nationalism. But that's also wrong. This is about strategic leverage, not about isolating us. Third, it's inflationary in the short term. This is true. But if local supply chains relocize, prices stabilize and strengthen the domestic economy and we'll be good to go. But right now, we're feeling it. Next, tariffs can bring manufacturing back. This is true. Maybe, and we're already seeing US factories reannounced, reopenings in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, places
 
like that. And we've seen trillions of dollars of investment promises rolling in already. But if this steers us into a deep recession, companies won't have the resources or confidence to build. All right. So, what's my prediction? And some of these aren't even predictions cuz they're happening right now. Are risks, short-term inflation, price increases, stock market volatility, retaliation from trade partners. These things are already happening. So, they're probably just going to escalate for the near future.
 
But the potential upsides, reshoring of manufacturing, massive supply chain independence, huge massive negotiation leverage for better and at the very least equal trade terms. Stronger US dollars, capital fleas, unstable markets abroad. Those are all massive positives, but they're not going to happen overnight. So, what's my prediction? short-term pain, long-term economic sovereignty, but we're entering a serious rebalancing period, and the US is reasserting its economic power. And while it hurts now, this could finally
 
reset the broken trade game that's been bleeding our economy dry for decades and would eventually take us down. All right, so what do we do about it? We need to capitalize. So, what are the three smartest ways to capitalize on Trump's 2025 tariffs? There are lots of unknowns and unpredictability in business. But one thing is always true. When there's panic in the streets, there is massive opportunity somewhere and there's going to be wealth transfer. For those with cool heads, fortitude, and discipline, we can win. So, what am I
 
doing? And what can you do to capitalize on all of this unpredictability? All right. Strategy number one, invest in US manufacturing and infrastructure. Tariffs equal a return to Americanmade. Full stop. Trump's reciprocal tariffs aren't just economic sanctions. They're a forced reshoring event here in the US. Global trade is breaking. Supply chains are rerouting. Countries like China, Mexico, and Canada, they're scrambling to adjust. And meanwhile, America is rebuilding. This is your moment to build
 
wealth while the rest of the market panics. So, how do we actually do this? Play number one, invest passively in the U in industrial and infrastructure projects. Tap into private equity funds, syndications, or REIT alternatives that focus on, of course, manufacturing facilities, US-based supply chain logistics, cold storage, and warehouse assets, transportation, freight infrastructure, that stuff works, too. These funds are just pouring into the reshoring initiatives, not just from the government, but from Fortune 500
 
companies rethinking their risk exposure. Play number two for my capital raisers out there. Raise capital for experienced sponsors in the same space. If you're not the operator, but you've got a network, become a capital aggregator. Use SPVS or fund of funds models like TriVest to compliantly pull investor capital into high quality US industrial and infrastructure deals. Bring your network along. Bring limited partners into deals with better terms, higher leverage, and strategic upside. Focus on experienced sponsors. Of
 
course, do your due diligence. Make sure they have a track record in industrial real estate or again critical infrastructure. All right, play number three. If you have the resources, buy directly. Also got to have the knowhow, right? Focus on manufacturing assets, warehouses near growing ports, logistics hubs, things like that. Make sure you have a boots on the ground partner if it's not you in that local market. Think markets like Columbus, Kansas City. These cities are turning into many powerhouses as global shipping patterns
 
shift inland. Bonus play, buy dirt where the roads are going. Right? So, if you're into residential and you don't know anything about industrial and you're not comfortable with it, think about residential and mixed juice land near inland ports, new highways, industrial corridors, growth zones, things like that. These plays won't necessarily cash flow day one, but they will appreciate like crazy over the next 3 to 5 years as that infrastructure is finally built out. Strategy number two, energy independence investing. If
 
manufacturing is the body, energy is the blood, where are you going to power this thing from? Trump's tariffs are slamming foreign oil and renewables equipment. And that gives domestic US producers, especially in oil and gas and renewables such as batteries, an unmatched advantage. And with the world watching this tariff war unfold, there's one thing everyone agrees on. Energy is national security right now. So what do you do? Play number one, invest passively, of course, in US energy assets, oil and gas royalties, own a
 
slice of production without the drilling risk. You have to dig deep into those documents and see what you're getting yourself into. There's a lot of different oil and gas funds that are structured in different ways and have different tax incentives versus cash flow. So, make sure you dig deep into that. Also look at battery manufacturers like Stack Rack Battery, especially US-based ones, solar developers, those leveraging domestic supply chains. Look for funds and startups focused on energy independence, not just ESG headlines.
 
Real world example, I had mentioned StackRrack battery. I co-founded StackRrack, a US-based modular battery company. And we're not just producing batteries, we're part of the national grid modernized push. Our battery systems are designed, they're assembled, and they're shipped right here in the US. We're ULcertified, scalable, and recession resistant. And tariffs just gave us a built-in mode. This is exactly what happens when policy meets opportunity. You just have to open your eyes and find those right opportunities.
 
And a bonus here, tax credit tailwinds. The US is still offering massive tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act, for now at least. Pair that with import based price increases and you've got a once in a decade profit window. And building on that, what's your capital aggregator play? If you don't want to operate, partner with fund managers or sponsors deploying capital into these sectors, be the legal, the capital raising or the strategic partner in high demand governmentbacked tariff fueled energy projects. My law firm,
 
Raise Law, can help you build any capital raising structure you can imagine. So feel free to reach out. All right, strategy number three, back or build AIdriven alternatives to offshore labor. Tariffs don't just hit goods, they hit services, too. Let me explain. Think about it. If China, Mexico, or Canada are now more expensive to work with because of reciprocal tariffs, that raises the cost of offshore labor. So, enter what's happening right now. AI, automation, US-based software. This is your moment to kill the middleman.
 
Reduce labor cost and automate what is already going to be offshored. This is your moment to kill the middleman. Reduce labor cost and automate what was once offshored in different countries. So here we go. Play number one. Build or invest in AI tools that replace outsource labor. Think about jobs like customer service, document review and data entry, uh logistics coordination, manufacturing floor labor, things like that. It's not sci-fi. The LLMs and the manufacturing robotics are ready today and the opportunity is right now. All
 
right, so step-by-step action plan. Identify high friction outsource tasks that just got more expensive. Right. Next, what's the capital aggregator play? partner with early stage AI founders or companies. Use your network expertise or capital raising jobs to make strategic investments or even try to leverage an advisory equity position or a role in a startup in these sectors. I've done it and feel free to reach out and I can tell you more about how I've done it. So, pro tip though, don't just invest in AI for the sake of it. Invest
 
in AI that displaces foreign labor. That's where the pressure is. That's where the real value will be. This is the moment most people will fear. We're in it right now and a few smart ones will capitalize. Tariffs are just the first shot in a major larger realignment. And if you're able to stay calm, not get caught up in all the political nonsense. This is a time where real wealth changes hands. Keep your mind clear, keep your eyes open, and if this breakdown helped you see the game clearer, smash that subscribe button,
 
drop a comment with your take on Trump's global economic strategy, and let me know, are you playing offense or defense? Keep your head in the game. Raise the bar, baby. Until next time, enjoy the journey. [Music]
Links from the Show and Guest Info and Links:
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https://x.com/sethbradleyesq/status/1910758713683746925
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sethbradleyesq_tariffs-trump2025-donaldtrump-activity-7316522747164086272-47ae?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAKVay0BMf-qnL2v6W-30PvVRZnCs0eCFQU
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In this episode of Fund Friday, hosts discuss the innovative solutions offered by Tribe Vest, a pioneering fund-of-funds startup poised to transform the landscape for emerging fund managers, investors, and capital raisers. Guests Rob Beardsley, Craig McGrouther, and Seth Bradley share their personal journeys and the genesis of Tribe Vest, highlighting the advantages of adopting a fund-of-funds model that enhances compliance and increases access for accredited investors. Seth Bradley, Rob Beardsley, and Craig McGrouther explain how Tribe Vest supports fund managers through comprehensive services, enabling them to raise capital efficiently while ensuring legal and financial compliance.
The conversation explores the key challenges faced by fund managers, including connecting accredited investors with high-quality deals and maintaining compliance in a constantly evolving regulatory environment. Seth Bradley, Rob Beardsley, and Craig McGrouther emphasize the operational efficiency of Tribe Vest, including K-1 tax distribution, capital-raising infrastructure, and investor onboarding, all streamlined through advanced technology.
In conclusion, Seth Bradley, Rob Beardsley, and Craig McGrouther spotlight the competitive pricing and fast service turnaround of Tribe Vest, while expressing their commitment to democratizing access to high-quality investing opportunities. They aim to break down barriers traditionally faced in private investment, empowering fund managers and creating a more inclusive investment landscape.
Links to Listen and Subscribe:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fund-friday-e49-the-cost-effective-way-to-launch-a/id1511202840?i=1000673582673
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4tLAtXFe3OrqtCwyc7gfBE
Links to Watch and Subscribe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVgT4GMrPPI&t=70s
Bullet Point Highlights:
Tribe Vest revolutionizes the fund-of-funds model for emerging fund managers.
The connection of accredited investors to high-quality private investment opportunities is crucial yet challenging.
Efficient operational support, including compliance and investor onboarding, sets Tribe Vest apart.
The need for compliance amid industry scrutiny has shifted sentiment towards fund-of-funds for risk mitigation.
Tribe Vest empowers fund managers by providing an institutional-level infrastructure for capital raises.
Cost-effective solutions allow fund managers to focus on relationships rather than administrative burdens.
Quick setup times (just five days) streamline the capital-raising process for fund managers.
Transcript:
welcome back to another episode of fund Friday this is going to be a very nutrient dense jam-packed episode with two amazing people we just had the pleasure of connecting with them once more at our Flagship uh summon event in New York City the gentleman behind tribe vest here a cuttingedge fun to fun group VC backed the whole nine this is going to be such an important episode for all you emerging fund managers you Capital raisers Maybe investors who kind of want to know behind the curtain what's going
 
on and also just from a structural perspective as to how we've been able to scale our business safely and compliantly but with that said let's give a warm introduction to Travis Smith and Seth Bradley how are you both today good craigg good to see you it's been just a few weeks since we were in New York together which was an awesome event glad to be here yeah well there's been a lot of great updates to the product that tribe is offering since our initial conversation we had so I would almost even argue um for the
 
better Awards you can maybe even scrap that episode for future purposes don't need to look back because we're going to cover that and then some here today so I'm absolutely elated and thrilled to talk about that so let's get right into it and just to start with for some some context because we're gonna just keep it moving forward here how did Seth and Travis and the team have tried best kind of Forge and kind of come together from you know this Alliance from a business perspective yeah tra you want to kick that off man
 
sure sure and look you can't scrap that first episode because I think it's the first episode yeah like we're in the record books at this time right yeah so yeah no look uh me finding Seth and Seth Finding Me is a big part of our story no doubt really uh in early 2023 we had built out the infrastructure and the technology uh we' even been challenged by our clients to build out the back office where we do all the distributions cap table management uh k1s taxes and um but I hadn't quite figured out the fun to fun portion of this yet
 
and uh good story you know met Seth Bradley at a a conference in the British Virgin Islands where we were both speaking at the event uh both of our wives were there and uh they hit it off we hit it off and just had a wonderful wonderful week and weekend and um and that was when Seth kind of really opened my eyes to um this opportunity Seth you know how how do you remember it where where you know how how did it go from there yeah well funny enough my my pitch or my speaking engagement was on fund of funds it was
 
it was teaching the group about fund of funds what is it how can you how can you go from basically a passive investor and and start a business raising capital and and fund of funds is kind of the the next step and at the same time the industry was was pivoting there was uh you know there were Winds of Change so to speak from the the cgp model and people were starting to really take the fun of funds model more seriously and take a deeper look at it and the timing just couldn't be better as Travis was
 
taking his company and and trying to make it pivot himself into the the syndicator and the fund and the capital raising market and you know originally there was a cgp type of model that was being uh thrown around and actually had a good bit of success Travis right going into uh earlier that year and you know I I we just got into some deeper discussions about where the market is and where it's going and the market was really going to fund to funds and I said' look Travis if you're going to if you're going to take this business to
 
the next level get ahead of the game like this is where it's going it's going to fun and fund is kind of getting away from the cgp model so if you're going to build a product around that market really should focus in on fun to funds yeah I mean and I'll just go as well just to to piggyback off that timing is so funny there because I think it was roughly around the summer of 2023 when fun to fun was the biggest buzzword in the industry what is a fun of fund how does it work why is this the most compliant way do I need to do it what is
 
it how does it structure everything included there so we're going to unpack that all there but it sounds like Travis you might have had an additional comment well I was say it really it truly was right place right time for Seth and I to meet you think about leading up to that it was the becc 2023 and there just all these Rumblings with some some bigger names in our industry that were under an investigation for the CP model and that was really how the industry was working with capital Partners at the time and uh
 
collectively realized that there's got to be a more compliant better way and there I was with a two-thirds of the solution talking to Seth who rep represented the the last third of the solution so really was right place right time and and uh you know we're we're we're so glad to be partnered together and and solving a big problem Big Challenge yeah well and let's get right into that problem so the the problem of the industry so how can someone like loans start Capital safely compliantly bring dollars into our deals from
 
outside investors fund managers capital allocators and opportunity so what is the industry problem and what are you guys both solving Seth I I'll hand it over to you I think from a big industry problem I mean there's just the age-old you know you have awesome lead sponsors that are working hard finding great deals private deals out there like Lone Star and and then on the other side there's over 20 million accredited investors that want the benefits of private investing they want the the benefits that come with real estate they
 
want cash flow they want tax advantages uh you know they they want the appreciation all those things that are Why Real Estate so awesome they want to invest with these lead sponsors in these deals but as as we know unless you're kind of in a country club or in the network it's really hard to access those so that's the big problem the big problem is we have great lead sponsors with great deals and then on the other side we have have awesome accredited uh investors looking for those deals meanwhile they can't find each other and
 
uh they don't know how to access them and so the the industry as a whole you know a big conduit to solving that is this Capital Partner right the fund manager and Seth I'll turn it over to you kind of again maybe start with how the industry was solving it and what the problem was with that right yeah I mean I think you framed it correctly it's it's access we know these these accredited investors are out there there's Millions U maybe tens of millions out there in the United States that um maybe they know it maybe they
 
don't but they they might want to invest um they need educated they need access to Deals and on the other side you've got uh lead sponsors you've got fund managers you've got Capital aggregators who want to get access to these folks and we work on that in our business every single day about how do we reach these accredited investors um and then we all have our own little networks of people that we can raise capital from and that we know and that they no like and trust us to be able to place their
 
Capital with us um you know since the jobs act in 2012 which is um what enabled us to start going out and soliciting and advertising um in the public uh for deals and raising capital in that manner and the the problem is that everything's been great since then up until covid right the real estate market has just been going absolutely through the roof so anybody that decided to jump into the the sector during that time had success I mean you could just you know throw paint in a wall and you're G to have success because the
 
market just really helped us out a lot like you had to make a lot of mistakes operationally um for things to go wrong right I mean you really did you really did um not to not not Lone Star Lone Star is awesome right you're you're absolutely right no you you you hit the hammer on the nail there for sure yeah and it's uh you know until covid hit and we got that little blip and that was just kind of a you know something that you know came and went um but now you've seen in the last year and a half or so
 
the market has slowed down um you've seen Capital calls you've seen um you know some SEC um interactions with folks and trying to see if Capital was raised correctly things like that um kind of looking into how the market evolved the market evolved beginning with a cgp model um you know initially the C GP model was thought to be compliant and if it executed properly it is compliant if you have all people in a group that are raising capital for their own deal they're all active participants they're
 
all General Partners they're all executing the business plan and participating in decision-making all good that's an age-old uh way to do business and it's been done for all the time right like you've got Capital you've got people actively participating and all is good but just like anything else you know us entrepreneurs we like to go around the edges and try to pick and choose like oh well can we do this or can we do this let's push the limits and unfortunately the market kind of changed into this this um this thing
 
where we push the limits too far and we've had 10 15 20 CPS in an active deal where you know really all they're doing is Raising Capital right like we might try to say on paper that this person's doing that and this person's doing investor relations and this person's doing a little bit of underwriting which all may be true true but at the end of the day if the SEC comes in and says let's take a look at your whole business plan plan with this particular asset in this particular offering and see how you
 
raise capital and who's doing what and they're going to look under the hood and they're going to be able to figure it out they're they're smart people back there they can figure out what you're doing they can figure out that hey this person raised uh $200,000 and got 2% and this person raised $600,000 and got 6% it's pretty easy to put those pieces together um but like I had mentioned before the market you know kind of went our Direction and there were really happy investors nobody was upset nobody
 
was suing nobody was asking questions and now since the market has changed you've seen the capital calls you've seen the foreclosures you've seen the investors upset um and now that's what Travis was alluding to earlier is there were certain folks in the industry that were um you know getting interviewed by the SEC I don't think anything ever came of it but it was enough for people to be like look we've still got to raise Capital we've still got to do these deals somehow what other way is there to
 
do it that's more compliant than this cgp model that the industry has turned to and the answer is fun to funds and it's always been fun to funds you know there's people out there that have preached that for years but it's just a little bit you know more nuanced a little bit more complicated a little bit more expensive so people have stayed away from it yeah so exactly and and thank you so much for painting such a Picasso beautiful picture here pertaining to the why before and why now and kind of the context there because I
 
think so many people are missing that why y component so you beautifully explained that so but then why is the fun of fund the route to do it in because it's pretty similar right and fun of funds to your point have actually been around for really not going to say forever but for a long period of time so just curious to know you know why fun of fun is this the solution from a client's perspective and and things of that nature yeah and we can and Travis jump in here whenever you want but we can kind of go through um with each
 
stakeholder why why it's compliant why they love funded funds maybe why they don't you know let's talk about the pluses and the minuses um I think we can start with the lead sponsor I mean for the lead sponsor um to me there's there's really no downside and I'd love for somebody to may maybe making a counterargument to that but to me there there's no downside for the lead sponsor themselves right the people that are actually operating buying executing the business plan by them creating a level of Separation through the fund to funds
 
model and not uh inviting other folks into their deal to raise Capital they're creating they're creating uh risk mitigation and dissipating liability for themselves right and they don't have to worry about bringing people into their business because it's a totally separate offering that the fund manager is going to be putting out there separate from the actual lead sponsors right and and uh another reason why the lead sponsors love it other than it's compliant creates that separation is it's way more uh efficient
 
way more efficient when you're working with a capital partner and they're the ones that are pulling the fund to fund they might be bringing in five 10 15 20 investors into their fund to fund well uh they can coordinate that from a sales perspective and then also on the ongoing Administration right it's one line on their uh on their cap table right so instead of getting 15 smaller checks you're getting you're getting one big check and it's just way more efficient and way more safer is is Seth said too yeah and your your listeners
 
are are very educated but just in case there a few out there that are wondering I mean the the fund of fund itself is just an LLC it's just a a group of investors it's a you know somebody managing that which is the fund manager and that LLC or that partnership however you want to structure it legally is actually just a passive investor for the lead sponsor it's just going to be a big aggregated passive investor for the lead sponsor so I just wanted to clarify that yeah and then let's talk about from so
 
and there's also been some Evolution I hit on that word to start the conversation but before we were partnering or triest was partnering with this a couple handful of lead sponsors but there's been some Evolution so can we talk about how you guys have maybe handpicked and cherry-picked some of the top you know first and- class sponsors and how it worked kind of before and now the new product lines rolling out and how you know why fund managers are loving it and should even love it more moving forward absolutely yeah great great
 
question and great points here so you know as you mentioned Craig when we were initially rolling this out uh it made sense for us to to cherry pick and go work with uh the lead sponsors with the best track record the best reputation and we're proud to say that you know Lone Star is one of our earliest lead sponsor partners and um and then since then uh really we had almost a requirement where you had to go through one of our our lead sponsor partners and there's good reason for it we'll we'll come back to
 
that in a second but since if you're lead sponsor and looking to do this on different deals I'm sorry if you're a fund manager and looking to do a fun to fun on different deals working with different lead sponsors you can absolutely work with tribe best so and you think about the benefits of that right what you're what you're able to do is you can control your own brand right you you get to build your own um your your company you're building a business one deal at a time and from your Investor's perspective instead of them
 
going to one investor portal and then you know going to another deal that has another investor uh portal they can actually all come to one portal uh as you're using tribe vest so um I want to again just point out that fund managers can now uh absolutely work directly with us they don't need a lead sponsor now I will tell you this think about the benefits though you do get when we are partnered with the lead sponsor and lonar is a perfect example of that right lonar has done the work to say look if
 
you're a capital raiser you get these marketing resources right you get we we'll we'll put together a you know a deck that you can configure um we've thought through all the economic for you so if you're wondering how to communicate the terms and the returns you know lone Stars gone as far as adding it to their their underwriting spreadsheet so you can play with the numbers calculate it and that's a huge deal right and so all these things that a a lead sponsor partner of ours like lonar does just makes it so so much more
 
seamless when we do engage with the funder manager right we don't have to go back and kind of figure out well what are the economics and and how are you you know doing uh you know commitments from your investors all those types of things so fund manager can absolutely come and work directly with us it's still way more smooth because we already have the offering docks ready we already have the calculator ready we already have marketing materials right all those things are reasons why by working with
 
one of our lead sponsor Partners just makes the experience that much better for you and your investors yeah and just a little back and for a lot of people who may not be privy to this but if you are a capital allocator specifically that we're talking about in this situation who is looking to work with the loans or capital or a group similar to us your other sponsors there's just some groups that are just not really built or have the infrastructure in place to really streamline the funto fund process I.E and the underwriting
 
model IE it already been kind of baked in there we've done this before some groups are kind of in Old way of doing things maybe they only do a couple deals a year that's totally fine I'm not saying that's a bad thing but they might have to create a funto fund breakdown economics setup for the double waterfall there where everyone gets paid out the investors get their returns that should be you know similar to what our investors get and then the fund manager needs to figure out his compensation for
 
his basically part in the opportunity so we have that baked in and we've done this now enough times to know how this is going to look and actually as a matter of fact to go through that process even one step further before we even go to public or live with the opportunity to even start the capital raising those numbers are ironed out those numbers are in place you know what's going on it's not a scramble drill amongst everything else to get your partners going so on and so forth when you do partner and work with us
 
which is a key benefit to do and solve for one of the most important uh places in the capital raising you know equation which is speed and time so we kind of shrink that time Gap versus other groups when do that or the other people that you work with which is highly crucial there are a lot more groups now that are tailored to the fund of fund but not every group is um so that's the exciting thing and then going back to now being partnered with a fund manager at at the fund manager level as much that's
 
amazing for a multitude of things number one if you're a capital allocator fund manager we don't see who your investors are because as Travis alluded to it's one check going into our opportunity so you get the shield and Sheltering in that perspective in that equation there so that's number one number two is we're not going to create the other big problem in the business I would say which is Portal fatigue so it's not a big issue it's not the endl be all but you know if you're let's say a alt uh a
 
big alternative investor guy right guy or gal person what's GNA end up happening let's say if you've got five to 10 sponsors you're probably going to have you know a bunch of different portals to go into but if you work with a couple of capital raisers who only use triest as your back office well that's immensely beneficial because you can just keep your accounts there so I just want to really highlight those two things and if you want to expand on that further please feel free to do so yeah I mean I'll jump in for sure I
 
mean you know I've got to mention again compliance right like think about you know the fun to fun model where the fund manager is going to create their own business they're going to create their own entity that they're going to manage um that going to administrate and they're going to operate so by doing so yes there are more responsibilities you are running your own business you are taking accountability for you and your investors and your business but uh on the flip side of that is hey the old CP
 
model you're getting into bed with all these other CPS that you don't even know I mean you may they may be an acquaintance off of social media or you might not even know who they are at all let alone the lead sponsor so if one of those folks does something wrong you guys are all in the same boat like you're not just taking care of yourself but you've got to worry about all the other people that you're in business with and if they do something wrong they're going to put your investment and your past investors um in a bad
 
situation and let's get to the next idea which is some of the problems that some people have experienced with a fun of fund that I think you guys are really really Cutting Edge on to solve for them so let's just talk about maybe a couple of the problems which I think is you know the expense I think there's a lot of misnomers about how expensive it can be um and also what you kind of solve for it how you bundle and Pat package it together because if you're the typical person that's going to be very expensive
 
but that's why we love you guys uh the administration burden and then also time so let's T let's just kind of break down those problems there how you see fit accordingly and uh we'll let you take it away again SE I'll let you jump in because you were saying you were just at a conference in uh think that uh maybe rais Masters conference in in San Diego and you the conversations you were having with fund managers once they kind of fully understood what we did and how we did it it really kind of uh popped
 
for them so anyway I thought since that was fresh i' I'd ask you to to talk about it yeah I think people that have any kind of experience uh raising Capital under when they hear about all the things that we do and for the amount of money that we do it for they are absolutely blown away I think the problem that comes up is that it's a misunderstanding of what we do and what we are so a lot of folks that don't understand will put us in a category of just being an investor portal they'll be like hey triest is like cash flow portal
 
or like syndication Pro or invest next or one of those and they just kind of lump Us in with them and we're like that's the smallest thing that we do the smallest thing that we do is the investor portal that's that's one of the services that we provide but we provide everything Soup To Nuts I mean from start to finish I mean it includes everything that you could possibly imagine I mean from getting your EI and letter to setting up your LLC to opening your business banking account to doing your legal documents and setting those
 
up for signatures for your investors and actually onboarding your investors or hurting the cats I was going to say you actually get a account manager to help you on board your investors professionally and uh yeah you mentioned hurting cats that's maybe one of the things that we're the best in the world at is helping hurt cats yeah I think that's something definitely gets so much fun Craig knows about it all too well yeah lot a lot of work lot of uh reaching out to investors lot of questions on hey where how how do we
 
fill out these form fields on these subscription documents right like where do we sign how do we fill this out what does this mean those things those they they take time they take effort um it's an administrative burden for you and your company and we take that off your hands and then we also Badger the passive investors till they actually send the wire right like a lot of times they get cold feet and you know we prompt them to to send the wire and actually finish their investment all the things that investor relations manager
 
might do we handle that now there's there's some teamwork involved as well because they're your passive investors but um you know we do the heavy lifting on on that side and then even on the back end we are managing your cap table so we're setting that up for you on our dashboard and actually making distributions to your passive investors now you can log on to your dashboard if you want to and send them out manually when you want how you want and what amounts but if you want us to just take those over pursuant to the terms of your
 
offering documents we'll handle that as well it's amazing and and the and the taxes yeah I think Craig tax can't forget the taxes yeah the taxes k1s again one K1 comes in from Lone Star uh we we of course at our core the banking and the cap table so we have the ownership percentage makes it easy for us to and our CPAs to create that K1 for each one of the members we distribute it they find it right in their uh document Management on their dashboard and uh literally two days after After we receive the K1 your
 
investors have the K1 so think about that and I know everybody's going through tax season here yesterday was kind of a a big day uh but it it's um it's a it's amazing that it really speaks to the technology that we have that we can receive the K1 on behalf of the the deal and then create those k1s in two days and distribute them to to the members I was just going to make one last Point Craig you know I think if you think about what we do if you think about an Institutional level group or fund so I think the way
 
fund managers can think about what we do is we really bring this institutional level uh setup legal Administration so think about a family office all the organization all the administration everything they need to have in place to operate well we bring that down to the individual level so you can have that institutional level Administration and setup as a you know a oneman business and therefore you can you can really build a business and a brand here's the thing one deal at a time you don't have
 
to go invest tens of hundreds of thousands of dollars you can do this one deal at a time because try best is in the business of of helping you uh launch a capital raising business efficiently amazing so let's get into the next two components which is expense and time so let's talk about time and then we'll bring it home for the the of course the the elephant in the room which is what is this going to cost me so let's get into the time factor and how long it takes to set everything up from Soup To Nuts from Hey I want to
 
work with the deal to you know funding and things of that nature Seth you want yeah yeah I'll jump in um timing wise you know we are industry leading in that in that as soon as you give us the basic information that you that we need for your fund of fund so you know just simple stuff like what do you want to call your LLC what do you want your preferred return to be what do you want your profit split to be those those things that you're going to make some decisions on as soon as you get those items to us which is in a simple
 
form that we provide that you fill out and we walk you through that as well we can have your business banking account and your LLC set up in two days and we'll have you ready to raise Capital meaning we're going to have your legal setup we're gonna have your business bank account open all those things done within five business days so that's why you know it's we should emphasize what Travis said there that it's a deal based decision I mean you can come to us with a deal that's already that's already
 
under contract that that maybe the lead sponsor is already raising for and say hey look I want to raise for this deal but I've only got a few weeks to go that that's plenty of time for us to to jump into action so it's really tough to do that with let's say you know if you came to me and I have my security attorney hat on i' would be like there's there's no way we we've got to get this going weeks before that like you've got to give us some setup time um with triest we've we've got it streamlined
 
and efficient to the point where five business days you're raising Capital that's incredible and that's just really a big X Factor that should make everyone feel comfortable with the process because you know there's situations just like go out a sponsor level here where hey a capital raiser might have not been able to get an allocation to deal because of the commitments were there and guess what someone Falls up short well now as you know as a sponsor whatever dollar is not coming in you got to make up for that so it's kind of a a
 
moving moving Target a kind of moving goal post in many respects so it's very nice that five days you're in you're out you're ready to go to the next that is awesome and then the next thought I have there is a capital allocator maybe you were late you're on vacation and there's this great deal that maybe your inbox is flooded and then one they you know peaked your interest and you could get the space into it well hey the deal could be live but you could have a five-day window to get your turntable
 
going to raise Capital safely and compliantly um in within this structure and infrastructure yeah great great points again I'll just come back to the benefits of working with some of our our lead sponsor partners like Lone Star so you heard Seth say hey as soon as you have all these things in order and you push the tri the tribit button we spring into action and you're ready to go right well you do need to have certain things figured out before you hit that tribit button and again the nice thing of
 
working with a a group like lonar amongst many other reasons is they have really ironed out the program the fun to fun program so if you're coming through them you already have those things figured out you hand them we get handed off or you get handed off to us and we're you're pushing that button and in five days you're ready to do onboard investors it's incredible that's amazing now the final thing what people have been waiting for what does this cost cuz you have to think for the amazing benefits
 
and the amazing opportunity you get to raise in this time and environment this has to cost a fortune maybe there's a massive upfront cost you know I'm not going to get into names but some groups charge an arm and a leg to get things set up if you want to do the more Boutique bespoke route where you're doing everything yourself without a name brand in a sense of the the setup you've got to go through the painstaking process of finding a Seth and a Travis and a this and a that to get all your documents ready to go however it's
 
pretty cost efficient and effective here so let's get into that I'll let Travis speak to our pricing at trivest but I do want to frame it with this when I worked in big law and you know massive Law Firm thousands of attorneys you would come to our law firm and want to put a fund of fund together or you know maybe even a more sophisticated fund but our prices started at $75,000 I think a lot of people out there in the industry are used to seeing kind of oh yeah maybe it costs like $115,000 maybe it cost $12,000 $225,000
 
on the top end when you get into the big leagues $75,000 to start and that's just your first drafts of your offering documents and then maybe one round of revisions and then we start charging you $1,000 doll plus an hour um to get across the finish line and that is just the legal by itself and guess what you may get there and then some could change a Nuance could happen and guess what you got to start it all over again and make further res revisions and have more billable hours to your incredible
 
attorney like s uh these people make a lot of money okay so this is a incredible opportunity to be in a very nice spot here where it might be cheaper and to your point there about that dollar fee I'm hearing 25 Grand from certain Services I'm hearing 75k 50k to make it do it yourself and for some people that's great that's fine that fits into their budget but for I would say the most people that are doing this that probably makes it to a point where you're paying to raise capital and that's what we're looking to avoid and
 
solve with try this so with that said Travis lead us away absolutely no what a great discussion and I teased Seth all all the time about his his industry it is it is it's the establishment right so we're disrupting The Establishment no doubt about it and uh so we just talked about what it would cost kind of going the more traditional routes well we're able to do everything that we just shared with you the setup the legal offering do uh the banking the uh helping of the onboarding setting up the cap table you
 
know doing the servicing of the filing for you all that for $5,000 so literally say that one more time please $5,000 yes only $5,000 and here's the other thing right when we talk about having the economics of the fun to fund set up and again getting back to the benefits of working with loone star is they've they've figured out the terms and uh even added in all the expenses of tribe vest right so that $5,000 is actually included in those in the economics so it's you don't have to kind of add on additional uh cost it's all in
 
there right and and you can do that with tri best because it's contained there's there's no creep of cost right and and I think it's also important to call out how we're able to do this is we have made a very firm box of what we're doing of course we've we've tailored it to these deals like to these deals so everything's in there that you need including the compliance includ you know everything we just talked about um but that's how we're able to do that this at scale and TurnKey and done for for you
 
so it's $5,000 to set up now we could also talk about what's it cost to administer this over five five years six years right most of these business plans are five years before they're exiting you know working with an administrator an Administration uh you know administrator you're talking about $155,000 a year well with tri best it's $2,000 a year remember we're doing all your uh distributions for you your cap table management that includes your k1s your taxes so you know anybody that's done this before they're like
 
it's more than $2,000 just to do the taxes every year right never mind you get the portal your investors have a a dashboard to see all their Investments and and set up their payout accounts and they get to see when their distributions are how many distributions they've had that's all there and and the distribution so anyway it's you know I think about we we mentioned right right place right time Craig and we've talked about all those things that kind of lined up for us but the industry has been trying to
 
figure this out and we just like to think that we're a small part of it we're that technology that kind of was the major unlock that kind of opened up the floodgates if you will and um and now our job is to go out there and tell people that this exists like this tool in technology is available for you and you should build a business on it yeah I want to make some other kind of comments and points there so you hear right there so just to summarize that it's $5,000 takes five days and it's you know
 
roughly $2,000 maybe a little bit more depending on the number of investors you have in the opportunity but all that's fine and dandy but if the product wasn't good that is where the problem is and it's sucks and I mean it sucks to spend money for something to not work well and people's experience that we've worked with have really liked the infrastructure of the product what it solves for because I think I'm someone personally that I am not afraid to spend a dollar I'm very good at spending money
 
but I like to spend money in areas where it's actually worth the money and I've had very good reviews here from people who have of course used the product so I just want to share that right there and that's kind of been some of the burden with some of the other products out there as well you spend a lot of money for the technology to not be great I mean Travis has a background with tech so inherently having that there to have the infrastructure be supported by a good product is the difference between
 
coming back and not coming back so I just want to tip the cap there to make it not only a good product but also have people come back to it but um it being cost efficient and effective as well and then the other time factor that I want to speak on is more from a sales perspective being someone that's been in sales by basically my entire career since I was 21 um almost a decade of sales in real estate specifically the last thing that I want to worry about and think about and do is uh had there be a burden of having you know to go
 
through Administration stuff talking to an attorney doing this doing that doing everything that's not shaking hands and legitimately moving the conversation forward and funding dollars into the account and what tribe best solves for is a cost- effective route with good technology and done quickly where you don't have to think about any admin stuff I want to connect with people I want to talk with people I want to grow the relationships and raise the capital I do not want to deal with in the your
 
view and the peripheral stuff and I'm sure you guys can appreciate that sentiment and also I've had people say similar things as well it means a ton to hear you say that of course that's we're building our business on fund managers coming back and building their business on our platform so um you know it's funny as as the founder and you know always improving and growing uh the the the the business and our solution We're Never Satisfied and um we always think we're disappointing in terms of the experience
 
or and we can be doing this better and we can right and we will but when we get feedback and we we do net promoter scores and get the feedback back from the fund managers and we get you know seven plus you know would you recommend this to friends and family and would you come back and that's just a super high rating if anybody's familiar with it and um and we're we're we're proud of that but we are just getting started I mean we are just getting started so I think we nailed the fact that we bring a ton
 
of value you know you're getting a good value uh but now we're going to really wow you and your investors that's our goal and uh we're going to keep pushing yeah so let's talk into maybe just the mission as the why you know why you guys are so passionate about this and want to create this product because you both are really smart guys you're very successful prior to this endeavor and Venture so you know why is this your mission and in your day to-day right now because you have the option of working so and doing
 
really what you want to do so let's talk about that maybe man that's Travis that's you again buddy you're the you're the big picture guy bring it oh man no look I think Seth and I this is personal for both of us right um my brothers and I wanted to get into real estate we didn't come from a real estate family you didn't get it you know that education in in school and we did what you know we've been doing since the beginning which is you know you come together with your tribe when you need to figure something out and that's what
 
we did and we we we started a a a tribe pulled our capital and started investing together and it changed our lives and it changed the trajectory of our of our family's Financial lives and um and that's why we're doing it um you know by doing this the fund managers right they're they're the they're the heroes in this movie the fund managers are the heroes in this movie that's how millions of investors are going to get access to these deals like the wealthy right we all know why we love real estate it it's
 
it appreciates it cash flow there's tax advantages you you name it there's a reason why the wealthy invest in these private deals these private real estate deals well most people don't have access to it the conduit to getting into those deals are you are the fund managers are those Capital raisers we're just happy that we're providing a tool for them that makes it easy that makes it easy but as you can tell we're passionate about it Seth I mean he he was a capital Riser right Seth's done a lot he's an
 
entrepreneur but he knows how hard it is to be a capital Riser and uh maybe you could talk a little bit about what what's motivating you s yeah I mean just quickly you know I took the the Bigger Pockets route so to speak you know read Rich Dad Poor Dad startlist to the Bigger Pockets podcast did a house hacked into a duplex and then started buying single family properties fixing flips and then started investing you're a grinder grinder just level by level by level right um started investing passively in deals when I
 
became a little bit more sophisticated um and then I was like okay now what now I want to be on the active side and at that point I really wanted to switch over to not practicing law whatsoever I was like screw this I'm leaving Big law I'm not doing this anymore I'm only going to invest in real estate um but then kind of along the the Journey of becoming an active investor and a syndicator and capital Riser I realized that my highest and best use is actually still as a Securities attorney and I'm
 
pretty good at it so I've kind of integrated that into my real estate business and and use that to um uh join join triest which is at the Forefront of I think perfect timing in this industry right like real estate and legal are two industries that just move extremely slow they're dinosaurs they don't want change and they're resistant to any kind of change right so we've got to as entrepreneurs even if we're fund managers or passive investors that are looking to um diversify our assets or lead sponsors we're the ones that have
 
to propel this forward and say hey we've got technology now behind us we've got all these different tools and ways to do things we need to take advantage of that and at Tri bestest we're building that so like what we are today is going to be completely different than what we are in q1 2025 and Beyond we are we are constantly building taking in feedback from all of our stakeholders and and and looking to take over the market I love it well then let's just real quickly go back into this we've kind of touched on
 
it but maybe just more specifically how you do work with everyone from lead sponsors fund managers and I know you're obviously always going to conferences and masterminds you're very accessible in many respects but let's just get into you know how you work with everyone once more just to maybe spoon feed everyone a little bit more information yeah absolutely so the lead sponsor uh we help them form their funto fun program right and that's a huge Advantage for them uh that they can offer a turnkey
 
funto fund program to their Capital Partners their their Capital raisers their fund managers and we'll we'll actually sit down and talk about all the things that you need to do for that to be successful you know how are you going to work with the fund manager um economics we talked about that you got to build in the fun to fun economics into your underwriting you know uh how are you how are you going to give them access to the marketing tools those types of things and really the the blueprint is is um you know is Lone Star
 
so lone Stars uh leading the way as they do in most things out there and have built just an awesome fun to fun program and that's why so many fun to fun managers are working with them but um you know that's how we work with the the uh the lead sponsors and we talked about all the benefits of that cool and then go ahead Seth on the are any questions there Craig no I think that that was really well said um kind of building out the blueprint that many people don't have and just how it works and pertains
 
to us if you are a capital allocator you kind of have understanding of the deal functions and then there's a additional level there of of underwriting materials so you can raise Capital so you understand the ever important what's in it for me conversation you can assess your opportunity cost between us and other sponsor if you're looking at other deals and whatnot I'll tell you this right now I'll say it again and again again we under promise and overd deliver that's kind of the the Mantra that we
 
try to have here like everything we're probably never going to show you the highest Returns on projections um we like to beat our deals up as much as possible prior to going live because it doesn't serve us nor you the investors to see what the best case scenario is um we try to make it as modest as possible with our assumptions so you know we have our infrastructure for what the deal looks like from an underwriting perspective what your theoretical compensation could look like so these are things are just very important to
 
think about uh we want basically everyone to be at parody what do I mean by that well if you're a capital raiser looking to raise for our deals we want your investor returns and our investor returns to look very similar they're going to vary ever so slightly because there's a slight drag you know for the fees Associated to the deal what do I mean by that well there's the administration fees that could be about $2,000 so sometimes that by comes by way of affecting the cash on cash return minuscule from a couple you know basis
 
points I would say roughly about the what looks like but you'll make it on the back end for the lift and raise of the deal there when the deal goes to sell so it's never going to be 100% similar because there are some you know technical nuances there but it is to be fair to everyone there and then you'll be getting you know a nice return on the deal that you raise for as well should there be profit split um above the preferred return so I just think that's a really important thing to hit on as to
 
how that fundamentally works now let's get into Seth with you over there on fund managers yeah fund managers we kind of touched on it already but you know we' we've changed our business so we're ready to work with fund managers directly um you know you can reach out to us and have an exploratory call if you want but really when you have a deal or you have a lead sponsor that you're ready to to work with that's really when we can spring into action um make that introduction reach out to us make the
 
introduction to the lead sponsor we can start going to work and again we can have you uh once we have the the information and and the things that we need from all the stakeholders we can have you up and running in five days and you know I'll just go ahead and talk about the passive investors too because they are really important maybe the most important I know a lot of those folks are are listening right now and just know that that's on our that's always on our road map to make the passive investors happy to make that user
 
experience awesome and streamlined and um you know just just an awesome experience for that passive investor because ultimately that's who we're serving we're trying to reach the passive investors let them get their money moving and so they can uh create multiple streams of income and we want to make that experience awesome for them because if they're happy then the fund managers are happy and the lead sponsors are happy too yeah there's two things that this show is about it's about the for this particular episode two things
 
it is the fund manager to be safely raising money in an everchanging business business and it is all about at the end of the day the investor the investor is the straw that stirs the drink they are the king of the beach so to speak they're the ones that this is all about for us to be able to give people who may not know that they can invest in those beautiful commercial real estate buildings that we drive by all the time you know it's sad to think that you know that's not in the hands of Main Street so to speak you know a
 
$50,000 investment gives you access uh to that product type now I'm not saying that's where every dollar should be you should have money probably in the stock market maybe you should have some money in your primary residence maybe you don't believe that mattra but you should have also some money in these institutional grade ACC or assets and that's what we're delivering here and it's so fun to be in a conversation with you both because you guys really are creating and are the future so it's cool
 
to be in in the moment to be having the conversation now but to be also progressing accordingly with with you all moving forward we just appreciate the partnership there's a reason why when we were cherry picking our initial lead sponsors that we we started to work with lonar and uh just you know couldn't couldn't tell you couldn't tell you how much we appreciate uh this partnership and and like you looking forward to what's to come in the future here yeah well with that said we could talk forever but we got to wrap it up at some
 
point so let's do that now Travis and sth thank you so much for giving us so much of your time here being generous how can people reach out with you want to learn more with maybe partnering at a sponsor level investor level and or a uh fund manager level absolutely LinkedIn is always the best place to kind of find me and follow me let me know you you heard me on this show I'd love to connect with you and uh and then you can email me and we'll also have a link on the show notes Here If that's uh if that's uh okay yeah of
 
course you can check out trib vest.com obviously and then for me you can find me all over any social media platform so feel free to reach out excellent well gentlemen thank you so much for your time today for those listening I hope you enjoyed this informative conversation about how the industry is moving and grooving and Ever Changing uh so we'll see you next week everyone have a great rest of your day peace
Links from the Show and Guest Info and Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVgT4GMrPPI&t=70s
https://www.structuringandraising.com
https://www.lscre.com/content/passive…
https://www.lscre.com/resource/underw
Seth Bradley’s Links:
https://x.com/sethbradleyesq
https://www.youtube.com/@sethbradleyesq
www.facebook.com/sethbradleyesq
https://www.threads.com/@sethbradleyesq
https://www.instagram.com/sethbradleyesq/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethbradleyesq/
https://passiveincomeattorney.com/seth-bradley/
https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/sethbradleyesq
https://medium.com/@sethbradleyesq
https://www.tiktok.com/@sethbradleyesq?lang=en
Rob Beardsley’s Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-beardsley/
https://www.facebook.com/RobBeardsleyLSC/
https://www.lscre.com/team/rob-beardsley
https://www.instagram.com/robbeardsley8/
https://www.facebook.com/RobertToddBeardsleyIII/
https://x.com/RobBeardsley3?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
https://www.tiktok.com/@robbeardsley3

In this episode of Million Dollar Monday, Seth Bradley interviews Eli Facenda, who shares that he made his first million through an international youth sports tour company. The business was growing rapidly until COVID completely shut it down. Eli Facenda made his last million through his current business, which helps entrepreneurs use credit card points to take luxury trips for a fraction of the cost.
Seth Bradley and Eli Facenda discuss his plans for making his next million by scaling the same business through lower-ticket, community-driven, and digital products, while continuing to offer his high-ticket services. Eli Facenda emphasizes strategies for leveraging credit card points, enhancing travel experiences, and building scalable entrepreneurial ventures.
Links to Watch and Subscribe:
https://youtu.be/o8qmXoQf8LE
Bullet Point Highlights:
First Million: Built through a youth sports international tour company (pre-COVID)
Business Model: Organized overseas travel for youth teams and families
Impact of COVID: Entire business was decimated by travel restrictions
Last Million: Made via a business helping entrepreneurs maximize credit card points for luxury travel
High-ticket offers: $5K–$15K services, hit $1M revenue in 2024
Next Million Strategy: Scale through lower-ticket products, community offerings, and digital content (YouTube, affiliates)
Goal: Reach more people without sacrificing service quality at the high-ticket level
Approach: Reverse path—starting high-ticket, moving into scalable, lower-ticket reach
Transcript:
Seth Bradley (00:00.16)
Welcome to Million Dollar Monday with Eli Facenda. Let's just jump right in. Let's do it. Yeah. How did you make your first million?
 
So I actually made my first million in a tour company. Now I made the first million. I didn't get to keep the first million, but what we were doing, we were running sports trips all over the world. This is actually part of how I fell in love with the travel industry and the work that I'd now do with points. And ultimately what we were doing, we were creating these international tour packages for youth sports teams and families to go on these international tours. So think of like a 14 year old baseball team in your, you're in San Diego. We'd like do a selection of kids.
 
from that area, the families would come and they would go to Japan or Italy or wherever and travel for 10 days, experience the culture, have an educational tour and also play the local teams. So we did that in a variety of sports, ice hockey and baseball and lacrosse, all these different sports and we were growing a lot and then that was ramping right until COVID and that just decimated the entire business. it took us about two years to get to a million and then we started to double almost every year for a few years and that was like,
 
really really tough break in COVID but that was the first night.
 
Man, nobody saw that coming. I No,
 
Eli Facenda (01:09.548)
definitely you know group large or large group sports international travel was like the worst potential like you can't go overseas and you definitely can't do it with 60 people so it was a brutal industry to be in
 
Yeah, there were certain sectors that just, I mean, there was nothing you could do. We opened up our first gym actually two weeks before COVID hit in 2020. So we had our, us like two years to open and then our grand opening. And then we had a bunch of free clients in those first two weeks. And then they ended up being free clients for about a year because we couldn't charge them. Cause we couldn't get them back in the gym. We're doing online workouts and all that kind of stuff. Isn't that? Hey, we adapt man.
 
Yeah, the true entrepreneurial muscles are definitely strengthened in times like that though. mean, like the people that bounce back and figure it out, like you just have a new sense of confidence of like, you know, I can handle anything.
 
Yeah, man. I mean, you pivot, right? Like I actually ended up launching my first podcast during COVID because I was stuck inside and it was like, all right, let's do this. Let's get on Zoom and interview people and all that kind of stuff, man. So that leads us right to the next question, man. How'd you make your last million? How'd you make that transition?
 
Yeah, so the last million that I made was in the current business that I have. so essentially what we've been doing there for about four years now is helping entrepreneurs maximize their travel on credit card points. So helping them get their dream bucket list trips, these 30, 40, $50,000 trips all over the world for about 90 % off by leveraging credit card points. And we've traditionally had some pretty high ticket services. I mean, not crazy expensive, but like,
 
Eli Facenda (02:40.046)
know, 5, 10, 15K in that range has been the main service. And so we cracked our first million about two years in. So that was 2024. Actually, it was the first year we made a million there.
 
Awesome man, awesome. How about your next million? Where are you scaling to?
 
Yeah, so the next million I want to make is the same business. I love what I do. I really enjoy it. And what I want to do is do it in a more community oriented and lower ticket way. So I want to have bigger reach, more digital products, more of the community, more affiliate services and stuff like that. And I'm really excited about kind of cracking the code on that because we've done it decently with the higher ticket stuff, more agency level service level stuff, which is great. And we're still cranking on that. We're going keep growing it. But I really want to see what we can do with
 
So the lower ticket stuff, creating awesome stuff on YouTube that leads to different channels and distributions there. So that's the next million and same business, just different type of money.
 
love it man. Yeah, that's kind of opposite of how some people approach it, right? You usually start with a lower ticket and then you have to build up that base before anybody will give you, you know, higher, pay for that higher ticket product, but you're kind of working backwards because you want to help more people.
 
Eli Facenda (03:44.398)
Totally, exactly. Yeah, there's a limit. mean, what we do in the high ticket is incredible, but it really is a specialized skill. Like you think about like a bookkeeper or an accounting firm or something, there's like a million bookkeepers. There's like 50 people that know points and travel to the level that I need them to know it to really serve clients with the highest level. So there's a real limit on the ability to scale that. It's also just like, we want to be able to do really quality work for less people, but then serve more people with the other stuff too.
Links from the Show and Guest Info and Links:
Seth Bradley’s Links:
https://x.com/sethbradleyesq
https://www.youtube.com/@sethbradleyesq
www.facebook.com/sethbradleyesq
https://www.threads.com/@sethbradleyesq
https://www.instagram.com/sethbradleyesq/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethbradleyesq/
https://passiveincomeattorney.com/seth-bradley/
https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/sethbradleyesq
https://medium.com/@sethbradleyesq
https://www.tiktok.com/@sethbradleyesq?lang=en
Eli Facenda Links:
https://www.instagram.com/elitravelguy/
https://x.com/elitravelguy
https://www.linkedin.com/in/eli-facenda/
https://www.facebook.com/eli.facenda
https://www.youtube.com/@elifacenda
https://www.threads.com/@elitravelguy
https://www.skool.com/@eli-facenda-5305?t=posts

In this episode, Eli Facenda shares his expertise on maximizing travel experiences through the strategic use of points and credit cards. Eli Facenda discusses his nomadic lifestyle and the entrepreneurial journey that led him to specialize in travel hacking, emphasizing the importance of understanding the value of different points systems.
Eli Facenda highlights the need for a structured approach to travel, focusing on maximizing points, optimizing travel upgrades, and effectively using credit cards to enhance experiences. He also shares insights on the significance of having a clear strategy for business owners and navigating the complexities of travel rewards.
Throughout the discussion, Eli Facenda emphasizes the role of community in travel planning, innovative solutions for entrepreneurs, and the concept of experiential wealth. He provides actionable steps listeners can take to improve their travel experiences while building a lifestyle that balances adventure and strategy.
Links to Watch and Subscribe:
https://youtu.be/c7QqSscsajc
Bullet Point Highlights:
Seth and Eli kick off with casual banter about van life, audio gear, and the nomad lifestyle.
Eli shares his background going from broke entrepreneur to travel-hacking expert.
He explains how he got obsessed with using points after a free trip to Thailand changed his mindset.
Eli now helps entrepreneurs take $20K–$50K luxury trips for 90% off using credit card points.His 3-part system includes maximizing points, optimizing travel perks, and redeeming for bucket-list trips.
He gives a real-world example of booking a $20K ANA business class flight to Japan for just $12.
Seth dives into a real-life org structure and Eli explains how points flow to the guarantor, not the LLC.
Best practice: 2–3 business cards and 2–3 personal cards tailored to your biggest spend categories.
Eli introduces his new “DreamTrip Alert System” that delivers full trip itineraries at massive discounts.
In the Million Dollar Monday segment, Eli shares how he made, lost, and remade his first million.
His next million will come from scalable digital products and a wider reach through content and community.
What makes Eli top 1%: He walks the walk, traveling the world and running a business around it.
His #1 tip: Pick your dream trip, put it on the calendar, and commit, then let the how figure itself out.
Transcript:
Eli Facenda (00:00.059)
What's up, Seth?
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:01.43)
Yo, what's going on, brother?
 
Eli Facenda (00:03.237)
How we doing, man? How we doing?
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:05.141)
Excellent man, what's happening?
 
Eli Facenda (00:06.893)
Not much. you, how's the audio coming through here?
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:11.032)
Sounds good, sounds good.
 
Eli Facenda (00:12.547)
it clean? Okay, because I'm, it's basically we're in the middle of a Nomad trip here, so I normally have like a, like a shirt mic like you have, but on the road I haven't had, so I haven't had to test this yet, but I figured the DJI's are pretty solid, so I wanna make sure it's actually coming through decent.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:16.962)
Okay.
 
Yeah.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:26.732)
Nice. Yeah, no, it sounds good. Sounds good, man.
 
Eli Facenda (00:29.425)
Okay, cool, awesome. Awesome Dave, we'll get to connect with you.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:33.802)
Yeah, brother definitely, so I don't butcher it. How do you pronounce your last name? Facenda, okay, cool. Cool Awesome, man. Yeah, we've we've crossed paths on social media. I think or maybe our va's have crossed paths who knows
 
Eli Facenda (00:39.077)
for sender. Yep, yep.
 
Eli Facenda (00:47.663)
Yeah, think that was where, yeah, think we were initially connecting, yeah, totally. Instagram, I think, was the place. Yeah. Because you're out in California, right? Nice, I'm in West Palm right now. And I mean, normally based in Austin, but we're in the middle of a like, six to eight month nomad adventure. And so we are, we're on the road here, and we go to Europe in a few weeks for like the next several months.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:53.42)
Yeah, nice, nice, where you at right now? Yep, San Diego.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (01:10.446)
Sweet dude.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (01:17.166)
That's awesome dude, awesome, awesome. Love it man, that's a long time. So we did last May we did, man it's been like a year, geez. We did like 30, 33 days in a van trip. So we took our van up through Wyoming into Montana and into Canada. That was a long time for us, but 68 months. Right, yeah.
 
Eli Facenda (01:18.117)
Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, man.
 
Eli Facenda (01:33.455)
Nice.
 
Eli Facenda (01:37.465)
sick. Yeah, well vans are intense too. You know, I haven't done van life but my fiance, she did that before and it was like a lot for her. But yeah, so totally depends on the way you're traveling as well. Yeah.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (01:47.266)
Yeah.
 
Nice, nice. Cool, man. Just give you a quick rundown. our audience, my audience is typically, so it used to be passive investors, right? So it used to be the passive income attorney podcast. I think when we might've tried to schedule before and that was for investors. So accredited investors trying to get them to invest in my commercial real estate deals, that sort of thing. But now I've rebranded to raising the bar, which is more geared towards active investors and entrepreneurs and folks like that. So still,
 
Eli Facenda (02:10.619)
Mm-hmm.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (02:19.982)
Still, I'm sure your clients, wealthy folks that are starting businesses, that have businesses, that are raising capital for real estate or private equity or other types of businesses, that sort of thing. And then we'll do about, we'll do it a little on the shorter side. So we'll do about 30 minute interview, probably at the longest. And then we'll kind of just close that out. And then I do two little smaller sections that I break down into like little five minute episodes. One is a million dollar.
 
Eli Facenda (02:25.403)
Totally.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (02:49.622)
Monday I put that in the notes and it's basically just like real quick, like how you made your first million dollars, how you made your last million, how you plan on making your next million. then, yeah, and then the last one is the top 1%. Basically just kind of what separates you and makes you the top 1 % in what you do.
 
Eli Facenda (02:59.675)
Cool. Yeah, I love it. It's great.
 
Eli Facenda (03:08.699)
Okay, beautiful. And then as far as, is there any place you want me to point people that is connected to you or do you care if you're asking about that? I don't have any hard call to action kind of pitch thing, but it's more just like.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (03:19.916)
No, man, whatever, it's up to you, man, whatever you want to do, whatever you, whatever call it action you want to use, if want to send it to your website or social media, whatever you want to do,
 
Eli Facenda (03:26.577)
Cause you know what we do have, I can do this. We have a pretty cool playbook that's normally 150 bucks and I'm happy to give it to your listeners for free. So I could give them a code, just say what would be the best code for that?
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (03:37.175)
Okay, awesome.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (03:43.429)
Um, just raise would probably be good. use that a lot for like call to action, like DME raise. So you could use a raise.
 
Eli Facenda (03:46.161)
Cool. All right, so yeah, so I'll just say go to the website and just DM or just put in the code RAYS and you'll get it for free. But it's like a whole playbook on how to maximize points for trips. I've act like legitimately I've had someone buy it and within 48 hours he texted me a screenshot. was like, dude, I just saved 20 grand on a trip from your ebook. And I was like, wow, okay, it works. So it's good. Yeah.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (03:57.07)
Sweet.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (04:09.366)
Nice, Cool. All right, man, well, we're already recording, so I'll just jump right in, and then if I need to add anything to the beginning, I'll do that later. And cool, man, yeah, we'll just jump right in.
 
Eli Facenda (04:14.129)
Sweet. You're welcome.
 
Eli Facenda (04:20.27)
Awesome.
 
Eli Facenda (04:24.913)
Let's do it.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (04:27.444)
Eli, what's going on, brother? Welcome to the show.
 
Eli Facenda (04:30.181)
Thank you man, excited to be here and I we're going coast to coast today so this will be good.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (04:34.382)
Absolutely, man. So we chatted beforehand, but I think you're tuning in on a road trip right now. So you're living proof of what you do, right?
 
Eli Facenda (04:44.065)
Yeah, totally. are, well this part's kind of like a road trip. We're in West Palm Beach right now, but this is basically leg number two out of, we'll end up being probably an eight month nomadic adventure with me and my fiance and our little puppy. And so we're in West Palm Beach right now in Florida. We head to Europe in less than a month and we'll be bouncing around different parts of Europe for about four months roughly before we decide where we're gonna go next, which we're not exactly sure.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (04:58.904)
Nice.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (05:12.28)
That's awesome, man. Are you using all your hacks and secrets and travel tips that you put out there?
 
Eli Facenda (05:18.449)
Absolutely, yeah, 100%. I mean, we just got back from a crazy trip to Japan. This was really cool. I run an entrepreneur mastermind. So we integrated our own trip around Japan around this mastermind event. So I had 53 people come out for like eight days. We went snowboarding in the mountains in Niseko in the Northern Park. And then we went down to Tokyo for the cherry blossoms. But for myself personally, to get there and back and do a lot of the hotels, we used points. We saved over 50 grand just on that portion of the trip. We then...
 
know, flew down to West Palm on points and then going over to Europe and a lot of the stays over there will also be leveraging the point strategies that I help clients use and then I talk about on social media and the stuff that we'll dive into today. But yeah, I like to be living proof of it because it's pretty awesome. It's something that's really impacted my life. I love doing it. And when I do it, I get to share it too. So has like a multiple benefit for everybody.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (06:06.648)
That's awesome, man. I'm excited, dude. I'm excited to dig in here, because it's just for my own personal benefit and education, because I'm super stoked about this stuff, and I travel a lot with my fiance, or my fiance, my wife, and it's something I'm personally interested in as well. We've had past conversations too, so it's great to have you on, man. So just to start off, man, if somebody, you meet somebody in the street, they ask you what you do, how do you explain that?
 
in a sentence, right? Like without going into some crazy like tangent about all the awesome things that you do. Like what, how do you answer that question?
 
Eli Facenda (06:36.453)
Yeah.
 
Eli Facenda (06:41.329)
Sure, sure, Yeah, it really does depend on the situation, but I oftentimes will ask a couple questions because it makes it easier for people to understand. So usually it's like, do you have any big dream bucket list trip you've ever wanted to take? And they'll be like, oh yeah, Greece. I'm like, well, what we do is we help you get to Greece in business or first class, stay in five star hotels, have the trip of your dreams at about 90 % off. So that's kind of the tagline is take the trip of your dreams for about 90 % off.
 
I'll get into the whole point side of things, but some people don't know what points are, or some are really well studied in that world. So I just leave with the trip because that's usually what people want. They want to have the experience where it's you and your wife flying first class, sipping champagne on the way to Paris to go see the Eiffel Tower and the points and the credit cards. That's really the mechanism. That's how we make the experience happen. But at end of the day, what we want is the amazing memories, the beautiful experience, all that stuff. So I leave with the trip when I talk about it.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (07:37.848)
That's awesome, man. Yeah, I mean, you're literally selling the dream, right? Like in marketing, you sell the dream or hit on a pain point. Like you are like the quintessential selling the dream. Like that's what everybody thinks about. So.
 
Eli Facenda (07:42.969)
Yeah, exactly.
 
Yeah, Right. Well, it's funny because, you know, in marketing, they'll say like, sell the destination, not the vehicle, right? They'll be like, sell the outcome, not how you get there. And so we do that in our marketing. But then when you think about it, when people are taking a trip, what we are helping them do is make the vehicle to get to the destination part of the destination. Because really, when you travel well, and you do it in style, the flight becomes a part of the trip that you're excited for.
 
I can't wait to see the the drinks and the champagne and the food they're gonna have and how awesome the seat is and the movie selection, how big's the screen. At least for people that love to travel, it becomes a fascination of the trip, not just getting there. So that's a big difference maker when people start to go on these flights, and this is what a lot of our clients will say, and for me, it goes from flying economy to like, I'm counting down the hours to get off this freaking plane.
 
to like, we do another lap around the city? Cause like, I'd love to just hang out here longer, right? And like the flight attendants treat you really well. So yeah, it's a whole experience.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (08:49.314)
That's awesome, man. Yeah, that's great. Was there a trip that you went on personally where you just kind of thought, man, I can turn this into a business, right? Like you're just enjoying it so much that you just were like, like the light bulb went off or how did this business spawn?
 
Eli Facenda (09:04.515)
Yeah, there wasn't one trip that I made the connection between like, trip is awesome, let me start a business. But there was one trip that gave me the light bulb of, my God, I am obsessed with this, I need to learn everything I can. There was zero intention or thought about business that when it first started. And that'll take you back about 10 years. So was around 22 years old and I'm just coming out of college. And basically I'm in my mom's basement and I remember this really...
 
like heavy feeling because I went to a good university near New York City and all my friends went to Wall Street and they were making like six figures plus right out of school. And I had this like entrepreneurial bug. I was like, that's not for me. I don't want to sit in an office. I don't care if I can make a lot of money. I want to like play life on my terms, even if it means I'm making less. So at this point I have friends that are making tons of money, know, lots of disposable income and I'm making like 20 grand a year. I'm working four side jobs. I was trying to build a company. I remember getting this text.
 
And my stomach just dropped, because I was like, shit, I'm going to miss out on this incredible experience. was friends inviting me to go to Thailand. And I was like, if I don't figure out a better strategy of either how to make more money or figure something out, I'm not going be able to go on this trip. And I was like, damn, this is going to be just a life of missing out on experiences. Is that what it means to follow my dreams with entrepreneurship? It's like, I have to forego everything that my other friends are doing. And so was like, let me think about this differently. And I had a mentor that told me, you don't need more money, you need a better strategy. And he was talking about growing a business.
 
But for me, I was like, oh wait, there's this credit card point thing. What if I could figure that out? So I ended up piecing it together. I got a trip to Thailand for free. I had this amazing experience with some of my best friends. It's like still, you know, 13 friends in Thailand at age like 22, 23. Memories you don't get back. So was really grateful to have that. And then I came back from that trip and I got another flight a few, probably a year later to Europe in business class where it was a $6,000 ticket that I paid $6 for. Now after that one,
 
I came off that flight and I was like, I will read every blog, I will watch every YouTube video, I will learn everything about this because it meant I could travel the world and have this incredible lifestyle without having to go take a corporate job. So was like, I get to have my entrepreneurial dream and the travel I want without any trade-offs and I was like, this is amazing. So that was my first time I got hooked. It took me years of researching and reading blogs and websites and doing stuff for myself before I even had the thought of helping anyone else. I just became obsessed with it on my own.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (11:27.086)
I love that you recognize you had the entrepreneurial bug early on, right? Before you got drugged down into the corporate ladder and then you got the golden handcuffs, we like to call it, and that sort of thing where it gets much, much harder to escape that gravity. I know for myself, it took a really long time. ended up going to, I went to med school, then I got my MBA, and then I went to law school, and then I worked in a big law firm, and it just took me all this time to figure out like, I don't want this.
 
Eli Facenda (11:38.405)
Yeah.
 
Eli Facenda (11:49.201)
Mm.
 
Eli Facenda (11:56.763)
Right, well the social pressure alone of like everyone year round is going one way, it takes a lot of guts for you to zig when everyone else is zagging, like it's not easy to do. Yeah.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (11:57.015)
And I think it's.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (12:06.648)
For sure, for sure. Yeah, it's tough. It's tough, right? And especially when you see your friends making six figures right out of college, you're like, man, I could do that right now if I wanted to do it, but I don't want that. So it takes guts to be able to go out there and do your own thing.
 
Eli Facenda (12:21.873)
Totally. And I think everyone has their own version of that still. There's even vert flavors of that today that are still existing for me where it's like, everyone's kinda going this way, but when I really get quiet and listen to myself, I'm like, yeah, you could do that, but you actually, what your soul or your heart really wants is to go over here. And so I've always just tried to listen to that more because I think about one of my North stars is, at the end of my life, I'm 80, 90 years old, I do the rocking chair test and look back, it's like,
 
What regret would I rather not have when I'm 90? I'd always rather be like I bet on myself than like I took the sure, you know, the well-paid path, which is the old cliche, but I think it's really true.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (13:01.004)
Totally, I love that North Star, man. Have you ever asked ChatGBT to give you advice as your 80 or 90 year old self on your deathbed? It's great. Yeah. I love it, man. I love it. Yeah, it's great. It you great insight. You start reading, you're like, this is good.
 
Eli Facenda (13:07.409)
Yeah, yeah, I actually created a custom GPT and it's my future me that coaches current me. yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah.
 
Right. Exactly. Yeah, totally.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (13:21.326)
Awesome man, well let's get back kind of on the business of travel, right? So somebody comes to you, they do that introduction that we talked about, you get in a deeper conversation, they're super interested in it, they wanna learn more about these travel hacks and strategies, like where do they start? Where do you point them?
 
Eli Facenda (13:42.447)
Yeah, so in terms of the process, I like to chunk it into three main buckets.
 
And it's important to have context around this game because if you don't, it just starts to feel like there's so many moving pieces and who has time for that and it's too confusing and then it becomes overwhelming and overwhelm just basically leads to an action. And then that is the person who's like, well, I just don't wanna do that, I'll just take a cash back card or I'll just stick to my Delta card, right? And so when you have the right context, you can start to understand the highest leverage moves to make and then you know really how to get the result you want with the least amount of effort. So that's what we focus on and specifically like I've worked with
 
probably over a thousand business owners now. And with business owners, investors and entrepreneurs, it's a different, the points game takes on a different context, right? Because usually the constraint we have to solve for is time and complexity. And if you work a nine to five, you know, after five o'clock, you've got hours for your night. But entrepreneurs, it's like every hour is kind of an asset that you can use. So it's a little bit different. So the three buckets are, the first one is to maximize the points that you earn. So this happens from getting the right cards and the right expenses.
 
because all of these different points are like currency, so you wanna earn the right type of points and then you wanna maximize the amount of them by getting the right cards and the right expenses. So that's the first piece and that's really, really key, because nothing else happens if you don't get that right. The second bucket is gonna be to upgrade and optimize your travel. So you've got domestic trips for a conference, are you getting TSA pre-check and clear, are you getting the best lounges, are you getting first class upgrades and free bags and hotel suite upgrades and free breakfast at the hotels and free wifi. Really it's just like,
 
There's all these opportunities available for people that are traveling domestically for work, for family events, you know, your kind of ordinary traveling might have. And what we want to do is we just want to enhance the quality of all of that and reduce all the headaches and annoyances by maximizing benefits on cards and status perks and all the kind of like little tactics that you can play. So that's the second thing that just makes your travel more comfortable. And then the third bucket, which is really the most important in terms of impact in your life and the most meaningful piece is to take your dream bucket list trips for 70 to 90 % off.
 
Eli Facenda (15:45.775)
And so that's where you're gonna take the points you've accumulated. You're gonna use some strategies that I can break down here around transferring these points from the banks to the airlines and hotels, and you're gonna get these dream trips for literally a fraction of what they should cost if you're paying cash, or compared to if you were using your points through a site like Amex Travel or Capital & Travel or Chase Travel. Okay, so that's a mouthful, but those are the three. So maximize your points, get the best possible upgrades, and then take your dream trips for 90 % off.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (16:13.934)
Yeah, dive into one of those little those connecting strategies there that you mentioned.
 
Eli Facenda (16:19.183)
Yeah. Yeah. So I'll talk first about the cards. That's the order. This is the first mistake that most business owners and individuals are making is they're just getting random cards. They're like, well, I live in Dallas. Let me get the American card or live in Atlanta. So I'll get the Delta card or, whatever it may be. Or live in San Diego and I fly domestic. So I'll just get the Southwest card. Well, they don't realize is that again, these points, these points like currencies. And so if I told you, Hey, do you want 150 Mexican pesos or 150 us dollars for your couch that you're selling on Facebook marketplace?
 
you're obviously gonna take the US dollars, right? Because the currency is much higher. But with points, people don't realize that. So they might be racking up Hilton points or Delta miles or other points and miles that just aren't as valuable as other ones out there. And then they burn through them quick or they don't go as far. And they end up just basically sitting there being like, I feel like I should be getting more. This is the common thing I hear. I feel like this should be taking me further, but like it's not doing much. And so what we wanna focus on is bank points that are transferable. So certain banks,
 
have this ability to convert the points to the airline hotel loyalty programs. And what happens is the banks have a different way of pricing than the airlines do. And certain airlines and certain hotels have really good what we call sweet spots or opportunities for you to get the best possible deals. Okay, so when you earn these effective points, which the top ones I recommend are generally Amex, Chase, and Capital One, and there's a new program built actually is out where you can put your rent on a card with no fees and earn points, it's really cool. But when you get those right,
 
And then you look through your expenses and you say, what do I spend the most on? Is it groceries and dining and the personal side? Cool. There's a card like the Amex Gold that is specifically really good for those types of expenses. Then you look at your business. What do I spend a lot on? Is it ads and software and taking clients out for dinners? Great. The Amex Business Gold earns four points per dollar on those categories, but maybe it's you're spending a lot on flights for company travel, or maybe you have inventory you're buying, or you're paying a lot of contractors, or you have a lot of payroll. You want to assess where you're spending the most money.
 
and make sure you have the optimal card lined up for that type of expense. So I'll pause there, but that's kind of the first bucket. The other one is on using the points effectively, which I can talk about too, is pretty powerful. But that first one is really the linchpin. Because if you have a bunch of Delta miles and you want to go to Europe, I'll give an example actually one more before I kind of pause. There was an example recently I saw of a client and they wanted to go to Europe and we're looking at different options. This was from JFK to Amsterdam. If you have Delta miles,
 
Eli Facenda (18:43.547)
The ticket for Delta One, this big awesome Delta Suite, was 320,000 miles. That's what Delta was charging to go from JFK to Amsterdam. It's really expensive amount of miles. But the same exact flight, like same flight number, same aircraft, everything, if you booked it through Virgin Atlantic, it was 50,000 miles. One seventh of the amount almost. It's really, really big difference. And so here's the kicker, right? If you have a Delta card, you only earn Delta miles, so you have to pay the 320,000.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (18:46.765)
Mm-hmm.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (19:02.124)
Hmm.
 
Eli Facenda (19:12.497)
but if you had an Amex card that earned Amex points, so like the Amex gold or business gold, you could actually convert those points into Virgin to book the Delta flight because Virgin and Delta are partners, and you'd pay 50,000 points instead of 320,000. So this is the part where like, for people that kind of get this, they're like, whoa, and the other people are like, what did you just say? So I get it can be, it can be tricky for some people that are just getting to grasp it, but I want to make sure to lay out the whole game so people can understand really what's possible for them.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (19:34.764)
Yeah
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (19:42.329)
Totally, totally. Yeah, it's just, mean, I'm sure people out there listening, it's both, right? Some people know these things exist, but they don't know the extent of it. And you're opening up their minds regardless, right? Like all the possibilities. I think most people are just like, sure, I need to find a great car that has a welcome offer of some sort. That's usually what people look at. And then they just try to pick, perhaps they take it a step further and they're looking to see like what they spend money on the most and they'll...
 
Eli Facenda (19:54.139)
Tour then.
 
Eli Facenda (20:04.443)
Mm-hmm.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (20:11.128)
calibrate that card to that. But you're taking it step further because you know, it's kind of just opening yourself up to knowing all the possibilities, right? All these different connections, where to spend the points, where you can earn the points, those sorts of things. How thick is your wallet, man? Do you have, is your wallet like this and it's got 25 cards in it or what?
 
Eli Facenda (20:19.419)
Totally.
 
Right. Yeah.
 
Eli Facenda (20:28.123)
Haha
 
Yeah. Yeah.
 
Well, caveat this first by saying when we work with clients and we might do recommendations for people, I always recommend if you have a business, two to three personal cards and two to three business cards. That is a simple way to set this up. That's only four to six cards across both things. That's enough where you're really gonna get some serious ROI, but it's not so much that's really complicated. Some people are kind of curmudgeoned about it, like I only want one card. And I'm like, that's fine. There's no right or wrong in this. It's really preferential, but you should just know if you do that, you're gonna be leaving for most business owners that spend at least a few thousand a month.
 
that's gonna cost you tens of thousands of dollars of free trips a year. So I'm like, is your simplicity of having one card worth that much? If it is, great, but maybe having a second or third card doesn't add that much complexity. But if you get an extra $30,000 a year trip out of it, probably worth it, right? So that's the first thing. But to answer your actual question, so I have an entire thing called the Credit Man purse. It's like this portfolio binder, and it's just stacked with cards. I mean, I have over 40 credit cards, but I've been doing this for a long time, right? And there's like, here's the thing also with credit.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (21:28.28)
Hahaha
 
Eli Facenda (21:34.041)
A big question, a lot of investors, specifically people that are doing real estate or business owners, really want to their credit clean and we're huge advocates of actually not just keeping your credit score the same but improving it over time. And when you get business cards, they don't show up on your personal credit report. Okay, the vast majority. The inquiry will, but the actual card won't. And some banks, you can actually get multiple cards with no additional inquiries. So like when we do a custom card plan for someone or when we're just recommending it, we're always saying like, make sure to look at which banks you already have relationships with.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (21:48.142)
Mm-hmm.
 
Eli Facenda (22:02.373)
which ones you can get a soft pull from, the order matters of these card applications. But at end of the day, you just want a couple of specific cards that are really gonna be custom built for you, and you don't have to go crazy with it. If you get excited and you're like passionate about it, you can get 10, 15, 20 cards over the course of several years, and if you do it right underneath your businesses, it's not gonna drop your personal credit score. Your personal credit score will actually go up over time.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (22:26.314)
Mm-hmm. That's a good hack, man. I'll get I'm put you on a spot a little bit. I'm gonna explain like what what I see a lot of the people that are probably listen to this show have in place structured wise like organizational structure and it's kind of similar to mine. Mine's probably a lot more complicated, but just to keep it simple, you know, there might be a parent company, right? Like this overhead parent company that owns everything. So let's let's call it parent company, right? And then below the parent company, the parent company owns, let's say a management company.
 
This management company probably manages funds, manages properties, manages equity for investors, that sort of thing. And then they also might have these other businesses, right? Like it just depends on the person. Like for instance, I own gyms and some other, my law firm, things like that. So they might have these own individual operating companies that owns a gym or owns another business or does these other things. you know.
 
Eli Facenda (22:55.889)
Mm-hmm.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (23:20.066)
Based on that structure, so you've got a parent company, you've got a, let's call it an equity management or fund management or property management company, and then you've got kind of this other operating business. How would you structure, what credit cards I guess would you kind of recommend? Not necessarily specific ones, but like, do they need one for all three or, yeah, how would you think about that?
 
Eli Facenda (23:27.301)
Mm-hmm.
 
Eli Facenda (23:36.593)
Yeah, yeah, but how would you think about that? Yeah, totally. I mean, it's a super common question. Like this is exactly the kind of clientele that we work with all the time where they're like, are you sure this is gonna work for me? I have four rental properties, two companies, one holding company. I have an investment thing. I have this thing over here. It's like, yeah, it all works. So simple is the key. So it's always a spectrum too. Like some people are, again, really minimalist with like what they want. we always, like when we're doing this for a client, we custom build it. But.
 
The real recommendation there is we wanna, again, assess which of these companies are actually generating the highest amount of spend. And those are the ones we wanna start with first in terms of cards and really optimizing. Now, if you have a bunch of different companies and they all have a bunch of spend, the first key thing to know is that the points will go to the business owner, the person who personally guaranteed the card, not to the business. So there's no business points account. It's underneath your name, even if it's underneath the LLC.
 
So the points go to you. So if you have like six different companies and you have like three Chase cards and three Amex cards, all of those three Chase cards and all of those three Amex cards are gonna basically funnel up to your account, okay? So that keeps it simple in terms of how you can think about accruing these points. They're not gonna be scattered everywhere where you can't use them. So that's good to know. Same with the airlines, right? doesn't matter if it's an airline or a bank card. So that's the first thing. For these management companies, usually lot of them don't have much spend.
 
So what we'll tend to do is just get one card that is like a catch-all card. And so this would be a card that we want to have earn around 1.5 to two points per dollar spent. Because what we've done is we've taken the floor of what you're gonna earn on your everyday spend and we just increase it by 50 to 100%. Okay, so like let's say a parent company is used for some client meetings and some basic legal and admin stuff and it's like 1,500 bucks a month just to do upkeep and normal stuff like that.
 
and it's not a crazy amount of different categories to spend. You're not running ads, you don't have that much software, there's not really a lot travel happening with it. But if that's the case, then what we wanna do is get a card, maybe like the Chase Inc. Unlimited, which earns 1.5x on everything, and we'll say, look, we're gonna keep this simple. That holding company doesn't have a lot of points earning power, so let's make sure we get a card on it just to earn, but we don't wanna like go crazy and get a bunch of cards and try to maximize every dollar. But this company that owns four different gyms and spends...
 
Eli Facenda (25:52.369)
50K a month on equipment and advertising and payroll and all this stuff, that's the company where we wanna look to get maybe two or three cards that are specifically aligned with that business to spend because that is where you as an entrepreneur, as an owner, are gonna be generating the most return. It's gonna be from that one entity. So I hope that breaks it down in a way that makes sense, but this is also where, again, having your cards across two to three main banks will keep it relatively simple because even if you have four different entities, if it's under one Amex login, that makes it nice and easy too.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (26:22.53)
Totally, totally. Awesome, man. I knew you could handle that. Easy, easy peasy. Cool, man. Let's go to number two, right? Using the points effectively. You kind of touched on a little bit of that strategy, but let's jump into that.
 
Eli Facenda (26:26.682)
Easy basic.
 
Eli Facenda (26:32.709)
Yeah, yeah, so the second thing was optimizing the upgrades and all that. I'll cover that one really quick. If you're going through the airport and you don't have TSA PreCheck and clear and lounge access, you're missing out on some really easy perks that will just make your life way more enjoyable. So that's the first thing. There's a lot you can do with hotel upgrades and status. So like when I travel and go to Miami tonight for a conference, I have status at Hyatt. I'm staying at Hyatt for two of the nights down here.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (26:39.628)
Okay.
 
Eli Facenda (27:02.225)
I probably would get upgraded to a suite that's worth like thousand to 1500 bucks a night because I know how to use the suite and I certificate, it's my globalist status, I know how to message the hotel the right way. So there's some strategies there where if you do that, whenever you're traveling, you just get a much better experience. You get early check-in, late check-out, the free suite upgrade, much more spacious room. A lot of times they have lounges at the property like when we were in Tokyo, a bunch of us stayed at the Grand Hyatt there. They had a beautiful lounge overlooking the city. They had breakfast every morning.
 
They had drinks all day. They had a great lounge area. We actually had a mastermind session in there and they like a 15 person breakout room for us to go to. It cost us $0 to use it. They had afternoon drinks and stuff like that. So these are just the things that make your travel much better. So small tweaks that over time just again, make it a much more enjoyable experience. But that bucket on how you use your points, this is one of the most critical pieces. And I've already kind of alluded to it with that Delta One example, but
 
I'll share another one. So on the way to Japan, right, we flew ANA business class. This is all Nippon. It's one of the premier airlines in the world for international business class travel. They actually have a seat called The Room because it's so spacious and big, your own big sliding door. They have like an omakase menu. You've got ramen, champagne. It's like really, really good. Amazing sake and green tea and all this good stuff.
 
It was like an incredible way to fly and you know, it's an 11 hour flight and I didn't sleep a wink because I was just eating the whole time. But here's the deal, right? So that flight for my fiance and I, it would have been $20,000 for the two of us. It's 10,000 a piece. Okay, San Francisco to Tokyo. We're going in peak season, mind you. So I have three options to book that flight. I pay cash for it, which you know, I do decent in business, but I'm not dropping 20 grand on flights.
 
just to get to Japan, like that's out, that's way out of my bucket of what I would ever want to do. The second option, I go to the bank site. Okay, so again, if you have AMEX points, a lot of people have AMEX cards, like the platinum or the gold card, and this is a good start, but when you go to the bank site, each point is worth one penny. Okay, this is the baseline value of a point. So what happens is if you go to AMEX travel, they'll say, okay, this flight would cost, let's call it 20 grand. So 20 grand times one cent for each point equals 2 million points.
 
Eli Facenda (29:20.977)
So my second option would have been to go to Amex's site and pay two million points, which I don't even have. Okay, so I'm like, that wouldn't have even worked, but that's what most people are doing at use points. They're going directly to the bank site and they're booking using Amex travel and they're getting absolutely screwed. Okay. There's kind of, and then there's a third option, which is to go through the airline site. So there's like three A and three B. Three A would be like, again, you only have Delta miles and you're kind of screwed going just to Delta. I don't recommend that. But the last option is what we did.
 
which is where we had Amex points and Chase points, and I looked at my different options and I said, okay, what are the best partner airlines I can book through to get to Japan? Well, it turns out, ANA is a part of the Star Alliance, okay? United is also part of that alliance. Chase and United have a partnership where I could convert my Chase points into United miles. When I looked that up, I ended up finding the deal and there's ways you have to kind of search this and track it, but that same flight that would have cost me two million points,
 
through Amex or Chase travel directly cost me 220,000 points to transfer from Chase to United. And I paid $12 out of Okay, so $20,000 flight, I paid 12 bucks. But how did I do it? I had the right points first. I had enough of them because I had the right cards and the right expenses. I knew how to search for this flight. And then I was able to transfer these points from Chase into the airline. So the hardest part of this entire process
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (30:30.402)
Hmm.
 
Eli Facenda (30:49.413)
is figuring out the points transfers and which partners are the right ones for certain airlines. That gets very nuanced and complicated. It's kind of like, you know, if you were talking to a CPA and someone's trying to explain how like the Augusta rule works, whatever, and like the CPA pulls up like the tax code and is like unveiling this long list of tax jargon. The average person is just like, what, just like tell me how to do it, right? That's kind of the same thing here. There's a lot of different like angles and transfer partners and bonuses and.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (31:12.43)
Right.
 
Eli Facenda (31:17.689)
alliances and partnerships and it gets kind of complicated but that's how it works.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (31:22.434)
Totally, totally. So let's talk about that. how do you help people keep track of that or learn that or execute, I guess, on these strategies?
 
Eli Facenda (31:32.241)
Sure, yeah, so for us, our company really has two main levels to it. So we have a community-based level where it's like you're just getting the fast track, you're getting help from experts. So I'm really good at this, but I'm more of an entrepreneur than a points nerd. So as I built this, initially I was the one on the phone with all the clients, walking everyone through it, and then I built a team. So I found basically some of the other points nerds in the world that I was mind blown by. I knew them from social media and just seeing their stuff, and I was like, that person has their stuff. So I brought them onto the team.
 
And so our clients will interact with both me and them inside of our community, but it's not just points. We're also providing really cool travel experiences. So for example, I posted this, but I'm going kiteboarding in Egypt in June on this epic like entrepreneur kiteboard trip where it's 40 entrepreneurs going to learn how to kiteboard together and masterminding on one. And so I'm attending, I sent it out to our clients and I said, Hey, if you want to come on this, our team will help you plan the flights out there on your point so you can get business class on the way out.
 
So I like to, because ultimately I wanna help people, my mission is to help people create more experiential wealth in their life. There's financial wealth, and a lot of people accumulate dollars, but they're not turning it into experiences. So I'm like, let's create more experiential wealth, and the points are the way to justify it. So we have that community level where you get access to our team, there's calls you can jump on, ways we help you plan trips, and then we have the done for you services, where we basically just handle it for you. That's more like, think of like a travel agency on points for entrepreneurs.
 
That's more of what that is. And in there we'll do the custom card planning and map out what cards you need based off of what your specific spends are and stuff like that. So we do some pretty deep intake. And we kind of are almost like a travel agent. It's a little bit different in some ways, but that's basically the two levels in how we help people.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (33:12.29)
Great, man. I love how you build in the experience, right? Like that's part of it. Like that's what you're teaching anyway. So it's like, it's not like, hey, join this, join this group and then we'll talk about all these things. You're actually doing it. You're actually inviting them to execute on what you're teaching so that they can see it in motion and then they can continue to do it and experience life at a different level.
 
Eli Facenda (33:32.497)
Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, like, I really love it too. like, I'm like, everyone that works with us is really, usually a pretty cool person. Like, if you're an entrepreneur and you have the guts to build your own business, and then you wanna travel the world, like by nature of that, you're already probably a pretty cool person. Like the majority of people that are doing that, I think well-traveled people are some of the most interesting people. If you want the best stories in life, like, someone who's traveled the world is gonna have some stories for you. And so when you combine those two, it's like, these are people I wanna hang out with anyways. So like, I'm going on a trip to Egypt. I'm like, come with, like.
 
Whoever in the community wants to come, let's have a party, let's go do it. So it's great thing.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (34:04.994)
That's great. Awesome, man. How are you raising the bar in your life and your business right now? Like what are you doing to build your business further, building off of some of the things that you're offering right now? Where are you taking it to the next level?
 
Eli Facenda (34:18.833)
Yeah, so we have a new project we're rolling out inside of our community, which I'm really excited about, which is even just in our lower tier membership, and it's called our DreamTrip Alert System. So what this is, is when people come in, this has never been done before in the world of points and miles or travel at all. So we're the first to do this, which I'm really excited about. So let's say you were to sign up. You're gonna come in and give us your DreamTrip destinations, the seasons or windows that you could go, the points you have, your home airport, all this stuff.
 
and our team is going through and we're not just finding you like a flight, because there are different alerts out there that'll be like, hey, we found a flight. And it's like, cool, one way from LA to London, but like, what am I gonna do when I'm there? Where am gonna stay? How am getting back? Right, it's like part of the puzzle, but it leaves a lot on you to figure out. And for our clients, most business owners and entrepreneurs, investors, they're too busy to piece all that together. So they're like, well, cool, that doesn't really help me. So we decided to do, we said, what if we...
 
just basically sent people like a mystery subscription box of their dream trips. And so when you come in and you fill that out, we gather it. And then a couple times a month, we're gonna send out alerts where it's like a 30, 40 or $50,000 type trip, somewhere incredible in the world. We're talking Greek islands, Amalfi Coast, Japan, New Zealand, African safaris, Maldives, Bora Bora, places like that, business and first class flights, five star hotels, four pennies on the dollar. So these are like, we get $40,000 trips where people will end up paying a thousand bucks, 1500 bucks, two grand out of pocket.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (35:25.389)
Mm-hmm.
 
Eli Facenda (35:44.337)
And so we're gonna send the entire trip to you. So it's like the flights, the hotels, the entire step-by-step booking, the recommendations on the ground, the entire experience. And so we're sending those out so people come in, they tell us when, where, like the things they wanna do, and then they're just gonna get these alerts where it's like every month they're gonna be like, you you're sitting there with your wife, hey babe, you wanna go to Bora Bora in like June? It's gonna cost us like 800 bucks and it would be a $30,000 trip. It's like that's what I want. That's what I wanna create. So that's us raising the bar in the industry and in our business.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (36:06.35)
you
 
Eli Facenda (36:13.615)
I'm very excited, it's brand new for us, so I'm just pumped to see that continue to roll out, because it's, for me the mission is to help people live with experiential wealth in the form of travel. And so, usually there's some barriers that get in the way. There's time, there's planning, and then there's cost. And what we're trying to do is eliminate as many of those barriers as we can to make it just easier to say yes to the trip.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (36:34.252)
Yeah, man, sign me up, dude. Sign me up. I feel like you've got to get both significant others on your list, right? So they both see it and whoever's like the person is like, we've got to do this, you hit both of them and then they convince the other one to do it.
 
Eli Facenda (36:36.625)
All right.
 
Eli Facenda (36:49.477)
Yeah, right. Yeah, exactly. There's usually one. There's usually like sometimes it's the husband's on the call and he's like, dude, I don't know where we ever travel. Like I'm gonna pay for this, my wife's gonna do everything or it's the opposite where the guy's like, you know, she just shows up and I tell her where we're going. And so like that's my relationship. I'll be like, you know, it's my industry, my passion. I'm like, we're going here and then here. And she's like, tell me where to be. And she just has no idea where we are and she just loves it. And I'm like, I like planning. So, you know, but it's different for everybody.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (37:11.736)
Yeah.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (37:17.144)
For sure, for sure, man. All right, brother, this has been incredible. Tell our audience where they can find out more about you, where they can get involved with all the things, all the incredible things that they've heard on this show. Throw it out there,
 
Eli Facenda (37:28.859)
Totally. Yeah, a couple of main places. So the first thing I'll share is that we have what I call the CEO Points Playbook. This is something I custom built. Took me a long time, and this was not a Chad TBT prompt. Like, I really built this on my own. And it is like a 30 to 40 page playbook that any business owner or entrepreneur can use to really maximize their travel experiences, get better bucket list trips, figure out the right cards for them. And it's normally 150 bucks, but if you go to freedomtravelsystems.com
 
forward slash playbook and you put in the code RAYS, you're gonna get it for free. Okay, so anyone listening, it is free for you. And so that's gonna be freedomtravelsystems.com forward slash playbook and then use the code RAYS, maybe we can put it in the show notes. And so that'll be the first thing. Second place is if you're like just want done for you services, just take off that forward slash and go to freedomtravelsystems.com. can talk to myself and one of the team members. And the last place, I hang out on Instagram and post a lot there, that's where we connected.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (38:14.049)
Absolutely.
 
Eli Facenda (38:27.595)
And that's where I'm sharing the most like behind the scenes and as I'm booking this stuff, as I'm planning it, as I'm showing like what our clients are doing, you get to see more of the visuals and the fun and come along for the ride. And so I love engaging on Instagram as well.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (38:40.27)
Great. Thanks Eli. I really appreciate you coming on the show,
 
Eli Facenda (38:43.973)
Thanks Seth, appreciate you having me on.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (38:45.806)
All right, brother, talk soon.
 
All right, sweet dude. Nice. Yeah, right around 30 minutes. Let's see. Yeah, we'll just jump into these last few questions here.
 
Eli Facenda (38:51.748)
Awesome.
 
Eli Facenda (38:55.205)
Perfect.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (39:03.862)
Welcome to Million Dollar Monday with Eli Fisenda. Let's just jump right in. Hey brother. Yeah, how did you make your first million?
 
Eli Facenda (39:09.243)
Let's do it.
 
Eli Facenda (39:13.499)
So I actually made my first million in a tour company. Now I made the first million, I didn't get to keep the first million, but what we were doing, we were running sports trips all over the world. This is actually part of how I fell in love with the travel industry and the work that I now do with points. And ultimately what we were doing, we were creating these international tour packages for youth sports teams and families to go on these international tours. think of like a 14 year old baseball team in your, you're in San Diego. We'd like do a selection of kids.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (39:19.694)
Sure.
 
Eli Facenda (39:41.329)
from that area and the families would come and they would go to Japan or Italy or wherever and travel for 10 days, experience the culture, have an educational tour and also play the local teams. So we did that in a variety of sports, ice hockey and baseball and lacrosse and all these different sports. And we were growing a lot and then that was ramping right until COVID and that just decimated the entire business. we took us about two years to get to a million and then we started to double almost every year for a few years and that was like.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (40:02.432)
Mm.
 
Eli Facenda (40:09.399)
Really, really tough break at COVID, but that was the first million.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (40:11.63)
COVID man. Nobody saw that coming. mean.
 
Eli Facenda (40:13.881)
No, definitely, you know, group, large, large group sports international travel was like the worst potential. Like you can't go overseas and you definitely can't do it with 60 people. So was, was a brutal industry to be in.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (40:25.506)
Right? Yeah, there were certain sectors that just, I mean, there was nothing you could do. We opened up our first gym actually two weeks before COVID hit in 2020. we had our, us like two years to open and then our grand opening. And then we had a bunch of free clients in those first two weeks. And then they ended up being free clients for about a year because we couldn't charge them. Cause we couldn't get them back in the gym. We're doing online workouts and all that kind of stuff is insane.
 
Eli Facenda (40:36.817)
Ugh.
 
Eli Facenda (40:47.696)
Wow.
 
Eli Facenda (40:53.337)
And that's like where the true entrepreneurial muscles are definitely strengthened in times like that though. mean, like the people that bounce back and figure it out, like you just have a new sense of confidence of like, you know, I can handle anything.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (40:54.22)
But hey, we adapt,
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (41:06.764)
Yeah, man. I mean, you pivot, right? Like I actually ended up launching my first podcast during during COVID because I was stuck inside and it was like, all right, let's let's do this. Let's get on Zoom and interview people and all that kind of stuff, man. So that leads us right to the next question. And how do you make your last million? How do you make that transition?
 
Eli Facenda (41:12.859)
Cool.
 
Nice. Cool. I'll it.
 
Eli Facenda (41:24.143)
Yeah, so the last million that I made was in the current business that I have. so essentially what we've been doing there for about four years now is helping entrepreneurs maximize their travel on credit card points. So helping them get their dream bucket list trips, these 30, 40, $50,000 trips all over the world for about 90 % off by leveraging credit card points. And we've traditionally had some pretty high ticket services. I mean, not crazy expensive, but like, you five, 10, 15 K and that range has been the main main service. And so,
 
We cracked our first million about two years in, so that was 2020, 2024 actually was the first year we made a million there.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (42:00.526)
Awesome man, awesome. How about your next million? Where are you scaling to?
 
Eli Facenda (42:04.305)
Yeah, so the next million I wanna make is the same business. love what I do, I really enjoy it. And what I wanna do is do it in a more community oriented and lower ticket way. So I wanna have bigger reach, more digital products, more of the community, more affiliate services and stuff like that. And I'm really excited about kind of cracking the code on that, because we've done it decently with the higher ticket stuff, more agency level, service level stuff, which is great. And we're still cranking on that, we're gonna keep growing it. But I really wanna see what we can do with...
 
So the lower ticket stuff, creating awesome stuff on YouTube that leads to different channels and distributions there. So that's the next million and same business, just different type of money.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (42:41.57)
I love it man, yeah, that's kind of opposite of how some people approach it, right? You usually start with a lower ticket and then you have to build up that base before anybody will give you, you know, higher, pay for that higher ticket product, but you're kind of working backwards because you want to help more people.
 
Eli Facenda (42:56.677)
Totally, exactly, yeah, and there's a limit. mean, what we do in the high ticket is incredible, but it really is a specialized skill. Like you think about like a bookkeeper or an accounting firm or something, like there's like a million bookkeepers. There's like 50 people that know points and travel to the level that I need them to know it to really serve clients with the highest level. So there's a real limit on the ability to scale that. And so it's also just like, we wanna be able to do really quality work for less people, but then serve more people with the other stuff too.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (43:25.368)
Totally, totally.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (43:29.518)
Cool, let's jump into the next one dude and we'll wrap up. Eli, you're clearly in the top 1 % of what you do. I don't even know if there's that many people out there that do what you do at all, period. So clearly in the top 0.0001%, what is it about you that separates you from the rest of the field?
 
Eli Facenda (43:49.701)
I think it's our ability to actually live what we preach. This is something where, you know, there are other fantastic people that talk about credit card points, but very few of them are actually business owners, like that's who we serve, and very few of them are actually traveling in the way that they're trying to help people travel. So we've done both. I've built multiple businesses, so I understand the psychology and the relatability of how you wanna think about travel and points and the various stresses in your life, the limitations on time and complexity. And I also,
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (44:06.062)
Hmm.
 
Eli Facenda (44:20.636)
What just happened?
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (44:22.998)
I'm not sure. We can splice it together, but let's see. Lost the video.
 
Eli Facenda (44:26.748)
Let me see here. Did my camera die or something?
 
Bizarre. second.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (44:36.076)
Yeah, weird. Never had that happen.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (44:42.038)
Not a big deal, we can splice it together, but let's see if we can get your camera working again.
 
Eli Facenda (44:46.992)
Don't see my camera get help. Is the audio coming through okay? Did it switch over there to my MacBook from the other one? Or it sounds the same.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (44:51.564)
Yeah, I can hear the audio.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (44:57.806)
I don't know. All I see is like a car. It's like I don't know. It's a card with a symbol on it I wonder what that is that riverside or is that your symbol? I can't be your symbol
 
Eli Facenda (45:06.556)
weird. Get help.
 
Eli Facenda (45:12.006)
Let me see.
 
trying to check this out.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (45:19.458)
We can also just finish it with audio.
 
Eli Facenda (45:23.556)
Is it, Dude, I don't know what's going on. Sorry about that. I've never seen...
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (45:28.654)
no worries, dude. We can just finish it with audio anyways.
 
Eli Facenda (45:31.63)
New recording track created the participants have been recorded.
 
Issue device struggling to record. High load on your device. Try closing all other apps. Give me one second. I don't have any apps open. That's really weird.
 
Eli Facenda (45:53.126)
Yeah, I don't know man. I apologize. I Okay, well yeah
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (45:57.219)
you're good, We'll just finish an audio and then I'll pull up for the video. I'll just black screen to a logo or something. So all good. I don't exactly know where you're at. If you want to start that sentence over.
 
Eli Facenda (46:04.048)
Okay, cool.
 
Eli Facenda (46:07.866)
Yeah, I'll just, I'll say, I'll just start. So yeah, so not only have we really walked the walk with actually living what we preach, but we also understand that psychology of what it's like to be a business owner, your limitations on time and complexity and all that stuff. And because we're talking about travel, people also want to know like what's actually in store for me in this destination. I've been to 50 countries now and my business partner has been to almost 100.
 
We have other team members who are all over 30, 40, 50 countries. So we've been to a lot of the destinations around the world that we're advising people to go to. So we know the ins and outs, best places to stay, hidden gems, top restaurants, stuff like that, that really add another layer of personalization and true experience into the service. So I think those are the things that really make us most credible in this space.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (46:57.506)
Dude, it's so important, right? Like there's so many, you know, there's so much content out there now. There's gurus and coaches and mentors, whatever you want to call them. Like the ones that are truly valuable and that people should pay attention to are the ones that are actually practicing what they preach, right? The ones that aren't just selling you education or aren't just selling you a product. Like they're actually, they've done what they're selling and they continue to
 
enjoy or do what they're selling.
 
Eli Facenda (47:28.635)
100%, yeah, if you're a living embodiment of what you do, it makes it that much easier to communicate it and sell it because you just are the thing you're selling.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (47:38.764)
Yeah, absolutely. What's one thing someone listening could do today to get 1 % closer to their dream life?
 
Eli Facenda (47:45.089)
One thing that would be the easiest is to spend 30 minutes, go on Instagram, go on your favorite social media site, go on some travel blog site, look for your dream destination, then pull up your calendar and put a time on the calendar where you're committing to go. One of my favorite quotes is from Tim Ferriss, I forget the exact quote, but basically the idea is that if you don't schedule your fun first, it won't happen.
 
because your business and your life will take up as much space as you allow it to. So most people find that I'll take the trip when it's convenient. I'll take the trip when I have more time. That time is never coming until you make it a priority. So the one thing they can do to get closer to their dream life is to just make a more bold commitment to putting the time on the calendar and be like, I am going and make some sort of investment, whether you're telling someone, whether you're putting some money down, whether you're learn the point stuff, that's gonna be the biggest leverage you can make.
 
to make sure that you actually follow through on taking these trips and then you'll find how to get there on points if you need to from there.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (48:50.766)
100 % man, gotta put it, people, entrepreneurs, people like us, we work in all the time, you've gotta put it, put it in your schedule. You've gotta block it out, commit to it.
 
Eli Facenda (48:59.821)
Absolutely, 100%.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (49:04.554)
Alright dude, I think we got it wrapped up, man.
 
Eli Facenda (49:05.743)
Beautiful. Awesome, Dan. Well, this was super fun and I apologize again for the audio or the video cutting off. don't know, no idea what happened with that, but yeah. Yeah.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (49:14.66)
All good, man. Not a big deal at all. Cool, man.
 
Eli Facenda (49:17.211)
So tell me a little more about your business. I'd love to just get a quick 30,000 foot view of what you're doing.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (49:21.836)
Yeah, dude. Yeah, man. So I have I have seven businesses. I have seven businesses right now. I'm selling one. So hopefully I'll have six soon. I have the law firm, which I'm scaling right now. I bought on a law firm partner scaling that really focused on that right now. And then I've got the two gyms, which I consider one business. And then I've got I'm involved in three startups.
 
where I'm chief legal officer or a co-founder of. One is TribeVest. We put together fund to funds in a box, fund administration, fund formation, people who raise capital for real estate projects or private equity too. And we just finished a $2 million seed round for that. So we're on schedule to raise for series A at the end of this year, which is massive. And then real estate software transaction management platform.
 
Eli Facenda (50:09.945)
Nice, congrats man.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (50:16.302)
It's all AI based, it's got an integrated large learning model called Clavis. So we've got that, we're raising for seed round right now for that. And we've got pilot programs out with Berkshire Hathaway and a couple other big brokerages. So that's our end client. And StackRack Battery, co-founder of that, which we've done. We're not raising any money because we've made, I think, $1.2 million in sales in the last 12 months. It's a battery manufacturing company where we sell
 
We sell battery systems similar to like Tesla Powerwalls is what they are. Yeah. Yep. Yep.
 
Eli Facenda (50:48.869)
Wow, wow, you're cool man. Damn, you got a lot going on. That's impressive. Do you have a few different assistants?
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (50:57.046)
I I do. I've got paralegals and VAs and I've got partners in just about, I've got partners, full-time partners in all those businesses. yeah.
 
Eli Facenda (51:00.879)
Yeah, I imagine.
 
Eli Facenda (51:08.025)
I love it. I love it. Super cool, dude. Well, thanks again for having me on. It's super cool to hear what you're doing. And again, if I can support in any way with your travel stuff, just feel free to reach out. We do some discounts when we do like, you know, partners like this, or I would consider it like a partnership where we go on a pod or sharing to the audience. So if you ever need support, just feel free to reach out and I can certainly help you out there.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (51:28.258)
Yeah, man, let's chat about it. Let's see what we can what we can do. I mean, I travel a lot like we that that's part of what my wife and I do. Like that's how we bond. Like we we work like crazy when we're home. But then we travel a lot. So.
 
Eli Facenda (51:38.698)
Right. Oh, cool. Okay. Yeah. Let me know. mean, I'm to set up a call specifically about that, if you want, or however you feel like best to go about it. There's no, you know, no, no pressure on anything. It's just, uh, opportunities there. So just tell me how the best support.
 
Seth Bradley, Esq. (51:53.007)
Absolutely, All right, brother. Safe travels, man. All right. See you.
 
Eli Facenda (51:53.574)
Cool. I'll talk to you. Bye.
Links from the Show and Guest Info and Links:
Seth Bradley’s Links:
https://x.com/sethbradleyesq
https://www.youtube.com/@sethbradleyesq
www.facebook.com/sethbradleyesq
https://www.threads.com/@sethbradleyesq
https://www.instagram.com/sethbradleyesq/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethbradleyesq/
https://passiveincomeattorney.com/seth-bradley/
https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/sethbradleyesq
https://medium.com/@sethbradleyesq
https://www.tiktok.com/@sethbradleyesq?lang=en=
Eli Facenda Links:
https://www.instagram.com/elitravelguy/
https://x.com/elitravelguy
https://www.linkedin.com/in/eli-facenda/
https://www.facebook.com/eli.facenda
https://www.youtube.com/@elifacenda
https://www.threads.com/@elitravelguy
https://www.skool.com/@eli-facenda-5305?t=posts

In this episode, Seth Bradley, a securities attorney and real estate investor, and Ruben Kanya discuss the complexities of capital raising, the importance of experimentation in finding one’s niche, and the critical role of networking and trust in the investment landscape. Seth Bradley shares insights from his journey in real estate and tech, emphasizing the need for grit, perseverance, and public speaking skills to succeed in raising capital. He highlights the challenges of the first capital raise and the key lessons learned along the way, while Ruben Kanya adds perspective from his own experiences in the industry.
The discussion also explores the multifaceted benefits of hosting a podcast, with Seth Bradley and Ruben Kanya emphasizing the importance of listening, building connections, and establishing authority in your niche. They delve into the intricacies of real estate capital raising, including leveraging other people’s money, compliance with securities laws, and structuring compensation in syndications. The conversation also covers emerging trends such as fund-to-fund structures, and introduces Tribevest as a tool to simplify fund management and ensure compliance in capital raising efforts.
Links to listen and subscribe:
https://podcasts.apple.com/ph/podcast/raising-capital-the-right-way-compliance-funds-and/id1341895972?i=1000688593916
Links to watch and subscribe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyF9Z72m2R0
Bullet Point Highlights:
You need a license to raise capital legally.
Experimenting with different models helps identify what works for you.
Building authority and trust is essential in capital raising.
Networking with high net worth individuals is crucial.
The first capital raise is often the hardest.
Grit and determination are key to success in entrepreneurship.
Public speaking skills can enhance your ability to communicate effectively.
Learning from clients can provide valuable insights for your own journey.
You can leverage your existing skills to add value in capital raises.
Building a strong network can facilitate easier capital raising. Having a podcast enhances listening skills and fosters connections.
Capital raising requires grit, a strong network, and resources.
Leveraging other people's money accelerates business growth.
Compliance with securities laws is crucial in capital raising.
Compensation structures in syndication vary based on deal size and type.
Fund to fund structures are becoming more prevalent in real estate.
Effective communication is key to successful networking.
Tribevest simplifies the process of raising capital compliantly.
Understanding the legalities of capital raising is essential for success.
Building a community can expedite personal and professional growth.
Transcript:
Ruben Kanya (00:00.142)
whole idea here is you're actually not allowed to raise capital without a license. So just like being a doctor or a dentist or an attorney, you have to have a license to be able to raise capital and it's called a broker dealer or potentially an RIA, registered investment advisor. So if you're not one of those people, if you don't have a license, you need to have an exemption from having that license. if it's your, this is speaking in generalities, but if it's your own deal, if it's your own fund,
 
If it's your own syndication, if you're the one buying the property, that's an exemption. You're exempted. You can raise capital for your own deal and that's okay. And that's kind of the co-GP concept that we talk about sometimes. I actually don't like to say co-GP because to me it's a fallacy. There's no such thing as a co-GP. You're either a GP and an active partner.
 
Who's this? you're an entrepreneur? you're a real estate investor? you're trying to learn from those who did it? Well, come into the lab then. Put your white coat on, gloves on, notepad, and let's go, Joe.
 
Experiment nation this episode was a really fun one with Seth Bradley who is a fun manager Invest in entrepreneurs. He's an attorney he as a startup founders of software as a service and Really what I loved about What he's built is
 
Everything that he's built, it's vertically integrated, which I love, but he really embodies the principles of experimenting. Right. And what I mean by that is he has tried multiple models in real estate, which allowed him to get exposure, which I think is really important when I talk about having a well-rounded experiment in your lab, LabAK being your life, so that you can at least identify
 
(Seth Bradley) (02:10.529)
what you like, what you don't like, what gives you return on energy, what drains you. I think those are all important things for us to then be able to niche down. A lot of times we talk about niching down, but we haven't even gotten a taste of what's on the menu to even understand what it is that we want to niche down in. And so part of what I created here at Experimentation in the lab is to bring you
 
folks who can present the menu of the different options that there is in not only real estate, but in business and even career to then give you that exposure so that you can then get a taste even from this show and then implement it yourself and maybe try one or two or three experiments or four or five. How many it takes for you to feel like this is the thing. This is the thing that I'm going to hold on to and grasp to and go all in on. Right. And that's what we did.
 
And keep in mind that life has seasons. A lot of us can do something and it could be four seasons. Your season could be five years, 10 years, 15, but I do believe in the compound effect. his journey, Seth's journey, he was able to get his first duplex, then quads, then small multifamilies and big multifamily units. And the next thing you know, he's doing $120 million a deal just in 2022 alone, right? In one year.
 
But with that, one thing I wanted to highlight, so one thing is the experiment, different exposures, AKA building blocks towards the very thing that he's doing now. But the other thing is being able to get a free, or I should say, get a paid internship. And that's through servicing your clients, learning from them, and then taking a page from their book. He was an attorney that was putting down together his SEC deals of syndications,
 
capital raising, and then he learned from his clients because he had full transparency. Sometimes, often we're in a position where the proof of concept is right in front of us, but we don't grab it by the horns. We just see it for what it is, just clocking and clocking out. No matter what job you have, there's an opportunity for you to actually take lessons, systems, SOPs, structure, any skillset to take it to the next level for your own endeavors.
 
(Seth Bradley) (04:38.252)
And what I mean by that is I was a realtor and I was a realtor for the investor. understood how investors, underwrote their deals. And that was my win for me to hone my craft in real estate, underwriting deals, pulling comps, walking properties, understanding value at all. That was when I was the realtor for the investor. You can still look it up on bigger pockets. You can still see my page. That's what I was doing. I was helping investors invest until I then became an investor myself.
 
And in this case, he was an ICC attorney providing these, you know, going through the process of doing syndications, fund to fund, et cetera. And then he learned and he said, not only do I have a practice that does it, but I can also be on the other side of that transaction. So don't you ever forget the importance of being on the other side of the transaction in whatever service that you offer, even if it's just call it.
 
You work in hospitality at a restaurant to make ends meet. There's a system, there's a SOP, there's a checklist. There's something in there that is a proof of concept that you can then take and implement somewhere in your business. And the universe will tell you its secrets if you listen. The clues are all around us. Last but not least, I love our conversation around being an authority, building a brand.
 
Essentially, that's what capital raising is and he talked about three pillars. I don't want to talk about he said money Right is one heart of the center trust in your network, right? Your network is you gotta have a big network He talks about having a platform like this where I think everybody should have a podcast because you get the interview you get to learn the skills of communication listening, etc but most importantly you foster relationship while on the air and then
 
It builds trust to whoever's listening. I'm sure that if you're listening right now and you and I wanted to go into a deal together, there's some form of trust. If this is not your, your first episode. So there's that, right? We talked about having a meetup, restarting our meetups. That's key. Connecting people, they trust in you. Being an authoritative figure, trust. They can't flow you if they don't know you. So stop being cute and stop hiding and put yourself out there. Right? Money. Money follows all of the above network and trust.
 
(Seth Bradley) (07:00.408)
people who have money in your network will make it easier than those who are in your network who are broke. So surround yourself with people who have money, not just because they have money, but of course it can help you tremendously if you're trying to raise capital. And there's something that goes about saying with people who have money, it's not that they're better or anything, but there is a level of opulence and abundance.
 
And I think there should be a good balance. But certainly if you're trying to raise money with people who don't have money and you're in a circle, people don't know how many doesn't mean to say that you can't uplift them when you have an opportunity, but it's going to be hard to raise capital from people who don't have capital. Right. So that's one thing to keep in mind. Money trust network and being an authority. You can build an authority from home in the lab, in a studio, in person.
 
And you don't always have to be an expert in something else. Sometimes you can actually have authority within your own circle. If you're a dentist and you're trying to raise capital with other dentists, they trust you. You have authority maybe in your current marketplace, you're a manager of some kind or you're a lead or you're just someone that people really trust. You have that authority. You have trust already with like-minded people in your circle. So this was a great one. He brought a lot of core values home. And that's what I love about
 
the show. It's every time you listen or anytime you interview someone who's had done some amazing leaps and experiments in their own lab, there's always some consistent clues that kind of bring to the surface and maybe it just, I'm aware of them, but if not, my goal is to extract that and make them aware for you. So I trust that you're going to get a lot from this episode without further ado, Seth Bradley in the lab, y'all.
 
Experimentation, what's going on? Your host Ruben here. Today I have the pleasure of connecting with a gentleman that we connected with, had some mutual connections. And I was like, I didn't want to let the serendipity go to waste because I saw there was a mutual beneficial component to the lab, as I always say. And I always think you're as good as your tools, you're as good as your resources. And so I'm really happy to have the gentleman here step into the lab with us to give us insight. And I also love the
 
(Seth Bradley) (09:21.39)
I'll call it a vertical integration I think and maybe Seth will keep me honest here, but without further ado I want to welcome Seth Bradley. How's it my man? Welcome to the lab brother
 
Going great, man. Ruben, really appreciate you having me on. Thanks for having me in the lab.
 
Absolutely, man. I should so listen if I'm curious so Seth because you know, we we start to talk a little bit and I was a car We're getting to the weeds of things. I want to make sure I hit this record button, but I'm just a curious guy and I'm so curious that if I'm at a real estate conference and you and I sit next to each other and I say hey I'm Ruben Seth. Nice to meet you. You know, what do you do for a living? What do you lead with because you have a very interesting background? So I want to we're gonna reverse engineer, but I'm so curious as to
 
at the time that we're recording this, what do you lead with if you don't know what my interests are, you don't know where I'm coming from, I could be an investor, I could be interested in putting my money to work, what do you lead with? I'm just so curious.
 
I love that question, man, because sometimes I have a hard time answering it. It's an easy question to answer for most people, but for me, I have to think about it for a second. But typically I'll lead with I'm a securities attorney, specifically a real estate securities attorney. So if you're raising capital for real estate from passive investors, I'm your guy. can help you put together your fund or your syndication compliantly and secondarily, or, you know, one B I'll call it a tech founder. So involved in a few tech startups as well.
 
(Seth Bradley) (10:48.238)
That's awesome. Then that opens up the window because I see her tech founder and then I securities attorney. Is that that accurate?
 
Yep, nailed it.
 
securities attorney. would you do you happen to do you still do I mean, of course, you've been involved in raising capital yourself, which is what I want to lead with next. But are you actively investing? And if you are, what is the model? Is it more investing in the startup? Or is it more investing in actual capitals? I should say social capital relationships, or even you know what, maybe it's some form of real estate, what is your current I guess, investing
 
season for lack of better words.
 
Yeah, it's all across the board, man. mean, everything that you mentioned, I mean, just quickly, I started in real estate in 2013. House hacked into a duplex did kind of the bigger pockets podcast. Listen to that. Red Rich Dad, Poor Dad, you know, the typical journey you take and house hacked into a duplex and started buying bigger and bigger properties got to the point where, you know, I wanted to get into syndications and funds and start raising capital. So I started actually investing passively into real estate first and I got my feet wet.
 
Ruben Kanya (12:01.55)
figured out what that investor journey looked like. And then I started raising capital myself from my own syndications where potentially I could be just a capital partner or also an operator. So I raised a good amount of capital from 2019 to 2023, I would say, before the interest rates started to spike. And then we slowed down a bit, but we still own a good amount of that real estate and just put it in perspective. We bought about $120 million with the real estate in 2022 alone. And now I'm kind of
 
involved with a handful of tech startups where I'm also in that same capacity where I'm raising capital or helping the CEO raise capital for seed rounds for these startups.
 
Okay, very interesting. So I'm glad let's go to the very beginning because you talked about bigger pockets with shout out to bigger pockets, right? Because that's or did you say bigger pockets? I did hear you say that. Okay, cool. had a mutual kind of, know, I was planning my seeds. I think that they did an amazing job, of course, like minded investors together. 2013 get a duplex. I'm sure one thing I'm curious about and you know, someone else might be listening is, you know, what
 
point now every everyone's situation is different with that said, but at what point did you start to think, okay, it's time to bring in some outside capital and, I'm going to lead with you. It seems that you strike me as a guy who does things strategically. enlighten me a little bit as to get the duplex. Was there another lever that was pulled to get the next property before you start to raise capital? Or is that right away, right into, okay, now it's time to raise capital. Cause
 
duplex going to take me so far. Tell me about that journey.
 
Ruben Kanya (13:43.732)
No, I mean, that journey was, you know, a lot of different types of things. mean, I've wholesaled, I've fixed and flipped single family properties. We were doing that in Cleveland for a while. Then we kind of moved on to multifamily, you know, smaller multifamilies up to four units, which is still residential, but then up to, you know, like 16 units, those sorts of things. Then we started getting to where, you know, capital starts getting constrained, your own capital, or if you're doing like a JV, starts getting constrained. But I was fortunate enough that my legal practice, which also started in 2013,
 
was highly related to what I was doing. So as a real estate attorney, my real estate clients were raising capital for their real estate deals. So then I got into securities law. So I saw how they were raising capital. Then I started helping them raise capital from the legal side. And then I started raising, and then I realized that, hey, if we want to go bigger, I've got to be more like my clients who are buying, you know, 50, $100 million properties. How do we do that? Well, like they do it. They need to raise capital from either
 
passive investors or from, larger investors like family offices and places like that. So I knew that that was the pathway. So I was fortunate enough to kind of have that perspective shown to me by my clients and they kind of showed me the blueprint. Hey, this is how you need to do it. Now, a lot of other attorneys see that same blueprint and they don't really have that entrepreneurial mindset. So they're kind of just like that service oriented, Hey, let's do what I'm doing. And I'm just going to help. But I have an entrepreneurial mindset. I I'm like,
 
I want to do that. I want to buy that property. I want to run that business. I want to scale it. like anything else, though, I still had a little bit of reservation, I would say. So I decided to invest passively first just to get my feet wet, just to see what that investor experience was like. And then once I did that a few times, I really got into the active side and dove right in.
 
Oh man, I love so many elements of that. Let's unpack the experiment phase, right? Because that's what I truly believe in. I'm curious to what your thoughts are on this, right? Before I even preface by saying this, I think, and this is just a thought, could be wrong. I'm experimenting life as it is. But when you ask someone, hey, what do you want to do for a living? Right? It's like, well, I don't know. I haven't been exposed to enough.
 
(Seth Bradley) (16:03.116)
Right. But then when you start experimenting with a lot of different things, then you can niche down because you've been exposed to like this that I don't like, et cetera. And there's a second leg to that, but I want to touch on that for a second because you said you did wholesale fixing flips, then you need small multifamily. What do you think you were able to gain from that? My personally, when I see that, I see, well, you were able you were able to get insight, but
 
Again, maybe you see things differently. Maybe it's like you needed to do those things and you thought it was true. And then you were led down one path and led to another. What do you take from that? Were you experimenting or was it more or less of the natural progression of events and what you thought was going to be your end all be all ended up progressing into a new ideal. Tell me about that experience.
 
Yeah, I mean, I think it was an experiment. It was me trying. I knew I wanted to be in real estate. I love real estate. I've always been drawn to it. It's just been an interesting thing for me and interesting subject. I remember when I was in undergrad and I couldn't afford to buy any kind of real estate or didn't have a job at all. And I was trying to figure out, well, man, how can I buy like these townhouses that I'm living in and rent those out? Like, I remember just being interested from the get go. So I knew I wanted to be in it, but it was certainly an experiment to see.
 
how to break into the market, how to scale a business. Because once you got into a duplex and your house hacked and bought a few other single family properties, it was like, okay, well, we can continue to do this, but I'm always looking again to scale. And to do that, a lot of times you do need to bring in other people's money to be able to fund that scale. But not always. mean, I think it would be a better pathway, honestly, if you can scale without other people's money, because then you can own 100 % of it. But a lot more difficult to do. So if you want to...
 
you want to grow with scale fast, typically it's with other people's money. And again, luckily I was already in a profession that gave me that experience to be able to see that pathway and be able to execute on
 
(Seth Bradley) (18:02.35)
Now tell me that's a great insight or at least a transition point there, Seth, because we, know, in our professions, we spend a lot of time, but not a lot of folks spend the time to have the lens of an entrepreneur to say, hey, maybe I can actually take a page from their book. Right. Because I think it's interesting that it's we all are entrepreneurs. Right. So we go into business ourselves to run away from maybe possibly corporate. Some people.
 
And then we build our own companies. We install systems, we invest in resources. And then it's like, we turn into the thing that we were maybe running away from, but there's a lesson that we get to build it our way and have maybe learned lessons from these big corporations. In your end, it reminds me a little bit of me because I again, certainly not an attorney by any means. And I won't compare being a realtor to an attorney, but you are servicing clients and you get to at least,
 
at least get nuggets from their journey and then say, Hey, why don't, why don't I take a page from their book? Can you talk to us about that? Because I think honestly, it's an unkept almost secret and not even talked about enough where it's like, Hey, you're taking this opportunity right now to get to understand the playbook, see how they've done it, learn from their mistakes, right? Right. Through service and while getting paid. And then you're like, okay, now I'm going to do it for me. So
 
Do you see it that way as well? was it kind of, know, or did you strategically go into it thinking that you do that? Or it was kind of like, you know what? This is kind of cool. Let me try it myself.
 
Yeah, I mean, and Ruben, hats off to you, man, because a lot of realtors and brokers, they're around real estate every single day. That is literally their business. They have access to deals before other people. They get to see things that other people don't get to see. They get to see the transactions. They get to see how they change hands. And as you know, most of them don't invest in real estate. like, you even own your own house? Do you own any investment properties in...
 
Ruben Kanya (20:11.918)
90 % of them don't, right? Unless it's, well, maybe their own house, but that's probably it. They don't invest. And it's crazy to think about that when they're around that all the time. And it's the same thing with attorneys, right? Like, know, they're, whether there's somebody like me, there's real estate or securities, and they have clients that are, that are buying large properties and raising capital, or it's, you know, some other practice like and A where they're combining companies and building companies and things like that.
 
I think that there's a certain entrepreneurial DNA that's in some of us and it's not in others. And that's okay. Like some people thrive in an office atmosphere or thrive in a W-2 type of atmosphere. And a lot of times I don't even like to disrupt that. Like people, you know, are comfortable there. They like the steady paycheck and that's okay. And I think the vast majority of people do want that and they do like that. They like the predictability of it. But some of us out there, like me and you, I believe are, you know, we just,
 
We're not a fit for that. Like we need to build. I think that's the key is, is the build, right? Cause you were talking about, you know, we start putting all the systems and the processes and the things into place to ultimately end up in the, the same machine that we didn't want to work for. But I don't think that's the piece that's important. The piece is important is that that climb the build, we want to build like we were builders. love to build.
 
Yeah. Have you ever had a conversation, with maybe your associates on? I don't know if this is a hypocritical question, because I don't know if I could answer this. But I'm curious, have you had a conversation with another attorney? Like, hey, you see this all the time. Have ever thought of doing it yourself? What's the mindset behind? Have you had that conversation? And have you had around those? Yeah, just curious.
 
Yeah, I definitely, I definitely have. think, you know, at least specifically with the attorney industry or with that profession, we are, we're trained to look at risk. We're trained to evaluate liability. We are trained to be conservative in nature. and that is totally different than when you're an entrepreneur and you're out there building a business and you're, don't know what tomorrow is going to bring. And there's going to be a problem that pops up today that you didn't expect.
 
Ruben Kanya (22:30.01)
And you don't know if you're going to be able to pay payroll and all these different things that come up as an entrepreneur, as a business builder, that's totally a different mindset than it is that attorneys are trained for. So I think that's definitely a separation. like, you know, I have a lot of investors that are attorneys. That was, that's who my investor base is. Typically it's other attorneys. A lot of other capital raisers don't go after attorneys because they are paying the ass. We ask a lot of questions. Like I said, we are risk averse. Like, you know, we're not the ideal.
 
person or people to raise from.
 
I'm gonna predict my money isn't really the case.
 
with a cold on the page. 137 second paragraph line four. What does that mean? Why is that? And, know, that's the kind of stuff you have to deal with. But, you know, they do make a good amount of money. So there's a, you know, there's a push, there's a give take there. But, you know, I think that that's, I have identified that with conversations with my investors and obviously my prior colleagues. I mean, that in itself is, is a big difference.
 
It's a big difference. We're just as attorneys, we're just trained to find and look at risk and think about all the bad things that can happen. And man, when you're building a business, when you're growing out on your own and you say, I'm done with my W-2, I don't want that paycheck anymore. That's a lot of risk, right? Or at least it's a lot of risk to a person that thinks that way. I actually don't think that way. I think it's more risky to be have one income stream and be a W-2, but that's certainly not the way that they typically look at it.
 
(Seth Bradley) (24:02.306)
Yeah, no, it's interesting what you're saying. But I'm also curious though, that if they are also investing, because it sounds like you've also worked with some associates, or at least your investors have come from the same cloth, it sounds like they might be, instead of again, raising the capital like you are, high risk, high leverage, they're willing to put their money to work. Do you find that
 
And I guess maybe that's it. Do you find that that kind of archetype is finding that to be of a less riskier approach versus flipping versus doing it themselves? Or do you find that it's more of time constraint thing? it's like, listen, I got the money. You mentioned it. I have a high net worth. I'm an accredited investor. Let me just do it with someone who's an expert. What have you seen since you've been on both sides, and especially as a fundraiser?
 
Yeah, I think it's that investor profile. You know, these are folks that make a lot of money from their W-2. They have no time on their hands because their W-2 is so demanding. then any time they have outside of that, it's got to be spent with family. So they really just don't have any time, but they do have capital. So it's just that investor profile that you're dealing with with attorneys and some of the similar, you know, with doctors and dentists and engineers and people like that. Same thing. You know, they're highly paid professionals.
 
You know, they went to school for a long time. They make a lot of money, but they don't have any time. And unless they really want to venture out and say, okay, I want to raise capital or, or, I don't know, you have to figure out a way to carve out more time because they certainly don't have it. I know when I worked in big law firms and I'm trying to bill 2000 hours a year, I don't have time to, you know, invest actively. In fact, I actually got fired from my big law job, my last one, because of that, because I'm raising capital and doing real estate deals.
 
and starting businesses and guess what? You don't have time to do that if you're working at a demanding job, whether that's as an attorney or Dr. Dennis, whoever that might be. So I think it just comes down to that profile and do you have time? Do you have capital? And then whatever one you have a surplus of, that's probably where you're going to fit into the asset. So you can invest if you have capital and no time.
 
Ruben Kanya (26:26.126)
You need to find something a little bit more passive and that comes through like funds and syndications and things like that.
 
All right. So that's very helpful and I think very interesting because you've seen both sides. You not only were on the other side, but you've also been the capital raiser and then you've also yourself invested passively. Tell me about the first deal that if you recall, at least the like kind deal when you raised capital, who did you go to?
 
Did you start with your client base? Did you start with friends and family? And then maybe we can even get into the granularity. I know there's different non-accredited, accredited 506V versus 506C. There's a lot of different kind of foundational pillars. But talk to us about what your first deal was like, if you recall some of the numbers and what kind of asset type and then who you actually pulled in. So people can start thinking of actually what's possible when we talk about capital.
 
you know, in fundraising, we think of it as this big thing, but people like you and me can actually start initiating these kinds of transactions. Talk to us about your first one.
 
Yeah, man, I mean, don't remember the actual specifics, but it was like 100 because there's around 150 unit multifamily something like that was your first That was the first raise it was the first raise but I was brought I I wasn't the primary operating partner I brought in as a capital raiser that sort of thing and also providing some legal services as well. Um, but I was
 
(Seth Bradley) (27:48.078)
That was your first race.
 
(Seth Bradley) (28:01.422)
Hold on. That's interesting. Now you kind of you're kind of double. Is that is that how you got your general partner essentially? Were you a general partner on that? Or were you tell us about that? Because from what I understand, you can correct me if I'm wrong here. You're the expert. You can bring in different subject matter expertise to the table to value your I guess your position and a capital raise. Maybe one is investor relations, one, et cetera. Did you from what I understand, bacon?
 
some of your services and as a GP or is that, what did you?
 
Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I was a general partner on that deal, baking in some of my legal services as well. Started leveraging my skillset that's super valuable. Obviously, it's applicable to these capital raises. I can help you raise capital and also be the securities attorney and also potentially the real estate attorney as well on the deal. So lots of different ways that I can get in there and provide value to the active partnership.
 
But yeah, I I was tasked with raising, you know, half a million dollars. I didn't hit it. I hit way under. I think I might've raised like a couple hundred thousand dollars. And I was pretty happy that I even hit that because it's the first time. I'm, and I'll tell you what, man, like capital raising is hard. Like I think that, you know, you see all these masterminds out there and these coaching programs and things and they're teaching how to raise capital and some are great. And I'm actually in a couple of them. but they are, you know, they, have to sell you on that. easy, right? They have to sell you on, Hey,
 
I'll give you the systems, the processes and boom, you're going to be able to raise a million dollars easily. It's not that easy. unless you already have a built in network of high net worth individuals, that's where you'll find success. Or maybe you have a platform like yours where you can access a lot of people that you already have a relationship with and you'll like, and trust you that love what you're doing. And they're like, man, if he's investing in this, it must be good. So that those people, like you, and then also people that are.
 
Ruben Kanya (29:59.426)
we tend to see a lot of doctors and dentists that are very successful right out of the gate. Cause guess what? They work with other doctors and dentists who already trust them, who have money, who already trust them. So they do great. and then others, like me are probably somewhere in the middle, right? We we've got a base of investors that are like attorneys, which seem like they'd be great because they have money, but guess what? They're a pain in the ass. So there's, there's a little bit of give take there. and then you have other folks who,
 
you know, maybe they're a school teacher or something like that where their colleagues maybe don't have a ton of money to invest and they have to follow just like, you know, follow the processes, the systems and the marketing funnels and those things and rely really heavily on that. And typically it doesn't go that well. It doesn't on the first one. You've really got to be scrappy. Like you've got to get in there. You've got to literally make a list of a hundred people that you know, that might want to invest right.
 
type it up, go systematically through that list, and you've gotta break out of your shell and not be afraid to just reach out to these people, no shame, get your pitch together and just do it. And it feels awkward and you don't wanna do it and you feel like a salesperson, but you've gotta do it. You've gotta break through those reservations and make it happen because that first raise is a bear. You've gotta just be.
 
You've got to be scrappy and you've got to do whatever it takes and 10x whatever you think is going to take.
 
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(Seth Bradley) (31:59.278)
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and midterm rental insurance bootcamp to fast track your way into landing these lucrative insurance contracts the exact same ways multiple investors have taken advantage of this unknown and untapped niche within the midterm rental umbrella. Wow, so I'm a systems guy and as you're speaking, I'm taking notes here guys. I heard three key pillars and feel free to add to them because I wanna hear.
 
kind of the downfall of some of what folks are coaching. I heard one is money, number two is trust, and number three is network. And I like how you highlighted those because I hear, well, if you have a network and you can get access and you have a large pool, then there's probably people who are gonna have money in there. Then if you have what I'm hearing is authority, trust, AKA I'm a doctor, you're a doctor, we speak the same language. And by the way, guess what? Third pillar, we all have money.
 
So that's kind of like the sweet, sounds like that's the sweet spot. MTN money trust and network. What did I miss?
 
Ruben Kanya (34:03.89)
You nailed it, man. That's it. That's kind of the big level, the high level things that you need. I mean, you need that authority or you need to be able to show that you know what you're doing, that you know what you talk about and what you're talking about, that sort of thing. And then obviously that network, you either have to develop that through your W-2 that you already have or however it might be, or maybe you have a platform, right? Like maybe you have a platform like a podcast or an investor group.
 
or an in-person meetup. We don't do those as much as we used to before COVID, but that used to be a huge thing. Like I were on a real estate meetup in San Diego County or something like that. And it goes, that used to go really, really well for people to be able to raise capital. So yeah, you gotta have that platform. Network. I know, right, Networking lunch.
 
You should bring that back. There's something about because there's something about this, right? This is cool. Like, what a time to be alive where you and I can connect in the flesh. But I want to echo what you just said. Because I'm kind of speaking to myself as a reminder, Ruben, you got to get these meetups going again. We used to do a meetup in New York and Atlanta.
 
And just the relationships that happen in the room and you're being the super connector is so powerful. I wouldn't get cute and just, you know, this is great that you and I can connect while you're in San Diego and I'm here in Boston, but it's not, or it's and, I think we should, I think we should bring it back. Cause I could tell it may a super charismatic dude, great energy. you know, obviously you're authoritative figure and I feel like, I think, it will only service more.
 
never seen.
 
(Seth Bradley) (35:41.87)
to have these in there's something about in person. So yeah, I'm just I'm preaching to the choir, but I'm also like, hey, accountability, I'm gonna check up on you. gotta do the same.
 
You gotta appreciate it. Tell me sure man. And it's great. Like when we meet on something like this and we have some interactions on social media and then we get on each other's podcast, you know, get to know each other. And then when you meet in person, you're like, this is awesome. You already feel like you know the person. So technology is a great and right. Another and yeah.
 
Yeah, don't sleep on that fit that in person. We need more of that if anything. And people are, you know what, people I think are actually searching for it with all this technology. So good reminder for the both of us and whoever who's listening. I want to touch on something that you said, Seth. You mentioned, because I like learning from those who either have failed or made mistakes because can expedite our learning process. So you said,
 
First deal typically, uh first one doesn't go well, uh, it's a bear but then you also mentioned that uh, you know Some some mastermind programs, right and there's a lot out there good and bad and some are better than others. Uh, some of them, you know I see I guess uh, maybe Don't um, I should say, um, maybe they fall a little short
 
of helping you get to your first link. What's missing? What's the missing link? We talk about money, trust and network, but like if I wanted to nail it the first time the right way without, and I wanted to learn from someone like you from, your mistakes or from someone else's mistakes or from, know, those masterminds that are just falling short, what is a, is, is it a foundational or at least insight or lesson learn or thing I should keep top of mind in addition to the money, trust and network that would maybe put me in a
 
(Seth Bradley) (37:40.024)
position not to have the first one be so challenging.
 
Yeah, I mean, to be honest with you, I think it's going to be challenging no matter what. I mean, I think what I was going to say is actually grit, right? You have to have grit. So I think it kind of it's a counterbalance here where you have a mastermind or coaching program or a class or something like that that you're selling to somebody. And the only way somebody is going to buy it is if you say, hey, buy this or come join me in this group and
 
I'll make it easy for you to do what you want to do. Like that's the selling point. You have to say that it's going to be easy to get them to pay you to do it. But the problem is once they're in, you realize it's not easy. So, you know,
 
People sell the promise, not the process.
 
That's right. That's right. So, you know, I think maybe I don't know if there's any way around that. Like you certainly can't sell it is going to be hard and be like, Hey, well, if you buy my $20,000 program, you're probably not going to make it. So you can, if you want, you know, it's just not, it's not going to work. So I don't know if that's going to change, but I would say maybe once you get into that program, then you preach that, look, I can give you the systems, I can give you the processes. I can even teach you the compliance and I can hook you up with all my different, you know, my network and
 
Ruben Kanya (38:59.21)
hook you up with my securities attorney and my CPA and my funnel builder and those sorts of things. But at the end of the day, really emphasize that it's going to be work. You have to not only implement the systems, but you're going to have to scrap. Just like building any business, capital raising is a hard business and you're going to have to do things that are going to make you uncomfortable. And if you don't go all in, you're not going to make it. That's all there is. It's just like any business.
 
or even a piece of a business. So me and my wife own a few gyms together and like sometimes we'll implement like you know, a promotion or something. Right. And if we half asset, it doesn't work. It just doesn't. It simply does not work. You have to have full buy-in. You have to believe in it yourself and you have to get your teammates and your employees to believe in it or they won't or they won't grow in the same direction as you. You've got to be all in just like with any business or it's not going to work.
 
love that. That's a good one. The belief system is certainly a big one. And I'm sure it comes off across, especially in this space of capital raising, you people want to know that, do you believe in what you're saying, right? Just as much as you believe in yourself. That's interesting. So
 
Tactically, was talking to this gentleman yesterday at the gym, speaking of the gym, a young guy, a hustler, you know, making some good money. And we were kind of talking about, you know, journey, you know, part of the journey is, you know, acquiring skill sets and honing your and sharpening the axe, for lack of a better word. And so I'm curious, you know,
 
And I'm going to stick to my pillager because that's a reference point for me. But if I'm thinking of, what is one skill? Not saying for this is the end all be all by any means, just curses. If I was to focus and truly get really, really good at one skill and, can she not just achieve mastery in it? Is it fostering relationships, remembering Seth's birthday, what he does? Is it being able to really get
 
(Seth Bradley) (41:17.998)
great at communication and putting together a pitch deck, just to get a little bit more granular of like, what skillsets should I be thinking of, of honing, flexing that muscle and or which skill sets would actually give me an advantage in this space to really double down on? What would you say to that?
 
I'll just lean on what I personally did. And I think that that's public speaking. So it's a lot, it's something that people hate, right? Like most people hate it. There's a small percentage of people that love it. Not very many. Most people say it's their biggest fear. Certainly my biggest fear was public speaking. so I had to overcome that. I realized that in order to be the person that I wanted to be, I needed to overcome that fear. I needed to get good at what I was not good at. And that was certainly it. And I'll tell you what.
 
doing what we're doing now helped me. So I launched a podcast. It helps a lot. You get used to talking, you get used to conversating with people and you being the center of attention and focusing your thoughts and putting them into the words that you want to say. And it, it really helped. And I think that that goes from the top down. So even if you, you know, public speaking, you're thinking about, you know, being on stage and giving a presentation, that sort of thing.
 
Just gonna say.
 
Ruben Kanya (42:34.914)
but it trickles down all the way to networking conversations, to having a phone call with an investor. Like it just improves your conversation skills and your communication skills that you have, whether you're on stage, whether you're on a podcast or whether you're on a phone call or a face-to-face meeting with an investor, it trickles all the way down.
 
I love this conversation so much and Seth, you have your own podcast as well. Why don't you plug it in for a second.
 
Sure, it's called the Passive Income Attorney podcast, but I will say that I'm rebranding to Raise the Bar Radio. Obviously a homage to raising capital and being an attorney.
 
Right. No, the reason I bring that is I couldn't, I just want to echo that, that, everything is, is, is a, is a building block, right? I think what's fascinating about having your own show, right? Seth is, you know, that when someone is talking, traditionally, or if you're not well trained, you're already thinking the next thing to say, not really hearing the person. This skillset right here, but we're doing, which I love so much, you know, forces you to be a better listener.
 
You know be able to collect information Digest it analyze it and then respond to it. I've always said I think having a show a podcast is one of the ultimate hacks because of the the the There's just so many multiple benefits associated with it. I'm curious. Do you see it that way too? Or is it just me?
 
Ruben Kanya (44:06.798)
just 100 % man 100 % you heard me man like that it's a game changer I mean there's that's to me the number one thing but also you you just get to make connections too right like you get to have guests that you have to have a reason to have somebody on your show that maybe you wouldn't get to talk to for whatever reason or and you get to cross paths with people and you get to say you get to share this experience like we're always gonna have this experience I know when I meet up with people in real life
 
maybe five years later, like at a networking event, I'm like, my gosh, you remember we were I was on your podcast four years ago or whatever. And it's just like, you know, it's like we're high school buddies or something. you know,
 
You know, that's so funny you say that Seth, because I was at a conference and I've seen this dude and it had been so long. He's awesome. And I blanked on his name and I was like, but I like, hadn't seen me yet. So I just went to my episode, scrolled them like that's right. Cause I couldn't put it together. I'm like, why am I playing on it? And we hit it off. went to lunch together. Like it was just awesome. But it's to your point, it's, it's sharing an experience one.
 
It's learning how to communicate, learning how to listen, and then being able to... That's why I actually like being on this side more, because I get to ask you questions. It's having a master class. I'm learning so much right now, and then I get to share with my audience. It's like, Roman, that was just a great interview. like, dude, I self-interest. I selfishly was just as hyped. I'm so glad you got value out of it. So that's awesome, Seth. Let me ask you. So, know, biggest...
 
You talked about the capital raising, challenging, having grit, needing grit, having a network, having money, having relationships. On the other side of this is, ah, this isn't for me. Do you have a message for those folks who are saying, you know, if you're an advocating for it and obviously you have a service around it, you've done it yourself. Sure. It's not for everybody.
 
(Seth Bradley) (46:14.178)
Right, but for someone out there who's not thinking this right like I think I was in a meetup There was a gentleman out like 300 something units like single-family homes. I think I think you did it the old-fashioned way old gentleman I'm like, yeah, I'm like damn. what is it? What message you have to like share as far as I? Like pulling on levers, right? That's why a lot of us get into real estate levers being anyone resources capital social capital, etc Can you?
 
Just give us your take on this lever and the power it has. And if someone's not thinking of this, the power it can have. I you mentioned 120 million in 2022. Like help us understand and grasp that for someone who's thinking still like, oh, I'm going to just refinance. I'm going to flip this home and I'm going to OPM. How important is that?
 
It's so important. Like I said, it's scale, right? It's scale and speed. And that applies to any business that you're trying to scale. It's speed. Like, can you get there on your own or maybe finding one partner at a time? A lot of times that's where you start. Like if you're fixing and flipping homes, you get to a max and you're like, I'm going to bring in, you know, Joe Shimo or my brother-in-law and they're going to fund this one deal. And you're doing one house at a time, or maybe you're doing two houses and you're doing three, but that takes time.
 
I mean, it just takes a lot of time to get there. So you're just going to be going like this. Maybe you're going to keep improving and then you're going to have one bad deal and it'll be chopped back down a little bit and they're to keep going. But with other people's money, you go like this, like that you get vertical and you can get, and you can just get economies of scale. can, again, just go with speed and that's what matters in business. Now, maybe that's not for everyone. I do get that. Like, I think if you would have asked me a few years ago, I would have said, this is the only way.
 
Like this is the only way you have to do it. I don't know if it's necessarily for everyone, but if you do want to get to that next level and you want to get there fast, like you want to achieve it soon, then other people's money is where it's at. Like you have to use it like gasoline on a fire.
 
(Seth Bradley) (48:21.678)
Tell us about the, I recently heard Alex Formozzi say this, and I think he was talking about how people need to realize that a piece of a watermelon is always gonna be greater than a large grass, like grapes or something like that. I was like, oh, that's a very interesting analogy. Can you break down maybe just for us who are not familiar with the split?
 
when you're raising capital and you have other people's money in play and you know a lot of people talk about assets under management here and there millions here and there but help us understand like what's what's the what's the ratio you helped a lot of clients if someone's a GP on a hundred million dollar deal or a ten million dollar deal how much are they actually taking home right like how much do I make because you know you see a lot even on social like
 
I think that's very interesting for us because you know, we got into the space and we're super lean, but at the same time our margins are ridiculous and it's not about how many doors someone how much profit we make per each, you know, property with all these insurance companies who are paying us like five X what you would traditionally pay. So it's never been about a door contest for us, but that's very prevalent in the industry. Like, we got assets on a management, you know, 20 million here, 120 million. But how much would one.
 
for someone who's listening, or maybe you're not thinking, said pour gasoline on it, how much am I actually taking home, let's say on a $100 million raise, or on a 20 million, 10 million? What's the good ratio? Like what am I making? And then what's the upside of that? And why is it beneficial for me to really pay attention to this? Especially if I am for profit and money driven, and I understand the opportunity that might be at stake here.
 
For sure, man. And you're kind of opening up a can of worms, right? So we'll see where we take this. the general idea here is you're actually not allowed to raise capital without a license. So just like being a doctor or a dentist or an attorney, you have to have a license to be able to raise capital. And it's called a broker dealer or potentially an RIA, a registered investment advisor. So if you're not one of those people, if you don't have a license, you need to have an exemption from having
 
Ruben Kanya (50:41.814)
that license. Now, if it's your, this is speaking in generalities, but if it's your own deal, if it's your own fund, if it's your own syndication, if you're the one buying the property, that's an exemption. You're exempted. You can raise capital for your own deal and that's okay. And that's kind of the co-GP concept that we talk about sometimes. I actually don't like to say co-GP because to me it's a fallacy. There's no such thing as a co-GP. You're either a GP and an active partner.
 
or you're not. And what's a co GP. So we call co GPS or the way that the industry tends to frame them as kind of these small capital raisers, right, these small capital raisers that come in and raise a little bit of capital, and they don't participate in the deal in any other way. So they don't provide any services, they don't do any of
 
I got got I got rich friends Right you call me you say Ruben. Can you code GP this? know you can probably bring us an extra 50 million to the table Co GP or you're saying is actually not kosher
 
It depends. So it all depends on how you structure that deal. So if you're bringing a large amount of capital and you're only bringing capital, what you're going to want to do is negotiate managerial or voting rights within that legal entity that you're partnering with. So maybe they're the operating partner and you're the capital partner. And that's okay. So long as you as the capital partner have some sort of like meaningful voting and managerial rights. So that's kind of what private equity does, right? They come in, they raise capital.
 
And that's all they do is provide capital. But guess what? In those legal documents, if something goes wrong, let's say with the property or whatever the asset is, they have takeover rights. They can come in and manage the property and take over the asset management if they want to. Those rights are baked into the legal documentation. And that's what makes it okay, because they are an active partner because they have those managerial and or voting rights. But when you come in as a, let's say a smaller partner, and all you're doing is bringing in capital,
 
Ruben Kanya (52:41.1)
and you're not doing anything else. So you haven't negotiated any meaningful rights to make decisions or to manage. you don't actually manage the asset. You don't actually attend the meetings. You don't do anything except, here's my 500,000 bucks from my investors. And then you walk away. That's actually not legal. And a lot of people call that the Code GP model. But actually, you're either an active partner in the deal or you're not.
 
Would it change Seth if I, it sounds like what you're saying is I'm bringing 500K and then I'm just leaving. I'm just like, here you go. Here's, I'm just hooking you up. Would that change if I put my own money into the deal? Now I'm an LP or no, there's more complicated.
 
Now you're, yeah, now you're an LP because it's your money. So you're just an investor.
 
Right. you're saying I could, yeah. So you're saying the difference between the example you just gave is the fact that that person never had money in, they just brought money in. That's none of their own money. And then they didn't do anything. You're saying that's a red flag for lack of better words, if they don't have the proper, I guess, voting rights, manager rights, et cetera. Is that an accurate recap?
 
Yeah, I can use my own capital. I can put my own half a million dollars into somebody's deal and be a passive investor. And that's okay. I'm not raising capital. That's my capital. But if I said, okay, here's $250,000 from my mom and $50,000 from Rubin and another $100,000 from this person and that person. And I put it in a LLC or I just bring them into the deal. Then that is raising capital. You're raising capital from other people. And that's, that's the difference there.
 
(Seth Bradley) (54:14.254)
Yeah, so it's almost like you could be stacking, you know, people are a bunch of people are recruiting for the fund, but those folks are not on there as investors. It's aggregated funds, essentially, which could create a problem, right? Is that what you're saying? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Very interesting. I never even thought of that case study. Yeah.
 
Yeah, I didn't even ask your question though, which was how much money can you make? Right? So typically, typically, and again, we're putting securities laws aside here. We're just talking about kind of industry norms, we'll call it. Maybe 30 % or so is put aside for the capital raising. So 30 % of the GP. let's say there's a syndication where you do a 70 30 split, 70 % goes to the investors, 30 % goes to the general partners. Well,
 
If you bring in, let's say, 100 % of the equity, you bring in all of it, then you'll probably be allocated about 30 % of the general partnership. So 30 % of the 30 % in that example. So you get 9 % of the deal.
 
What did you mean by 100 % of the equity amount following?
 
So if you had to raise, let's say you're closing on a $10 million property and you need to raise $4 million to close it, or let's say the down payment plus capital improvements, something like that, and you bring in the full $4 million, you brought in 100 % of the equity needed to close the deal.
 
Ruben Kanya (55:38.574)
Yep. And then overall, so and then what has happened now? So what's going on now or what's happened over the last couple of years is that there have been some very well-known syndicators in the space get investigated by the SEC and people have said, all right, well, now we need to figure out a different way to raise capital, compliantly. Right. And the answer is actually always been out there, but it's had some difficulties and that's a fund to fund. So
 
people out there, they've heard of a fund to fund. This is more a more prominent way, a more compliant way to raise capital nowadays. But I'll tell you what, comparing it to the CoGP model, it's more complicated. It costs more money and it's just a lot more work for you as the capital aggregator or the fundraiser. So people have avoided it because they've just done the CoGP model because it's easier. But now that the CoGP model isn't as available, people are still doing it, but people are kind of shying away from it because of the
 
the investigations that went on. Fund to Fund has become a lot more prominent and you have companies like Tribe Best who I'm chief legal officer for, full disclosure. We put together a Fund to Fund product where we make it cheaper, easier, more compliant, and you can just do it very easily and within five business days because we do everything for you. So instead of you having to find a securities attorney and a CPA, open a business banking account, file your LLC,
 
Walk your investors through the signing ceremony and get them to wire your funds. We call that herding the cats. Do all these things and put your cap table together, do your distributions, all those things that you'd normally have to do. Tribe Best does. And we do it for a very low price in comparison to what I would charge you if you came to me as a law client.
 
Interesting so I like how you just covered the foundation there. Let's go back to the 10 million dollar example, right? Yeah, you put in equity is you said so this is me saying Equity to close is 4 million. And so I'm bringing in 4 million just so I'm clear is do I have and this is my assumption that a Lot of syndicators are also raising the capital for that 4 million. Is that not correct?
 
Ruben Kanya (57:55.032)
Typically, yes.
 
Okay, so then you're saying, just want to make sure I understand all the different use cases. So I could be 4 million and then the Delta, I can either traditional lending and or have my investors cover the Delta, which would be the 6 million. Is that accurate?
 
Yeah, I mean you can find however you need to fill in that the debt the equity stack Well wouldn't be the equity stack the full capital stack. Yeah
 
Typical though, it more typical that if I'm the GP to $10 million asset that I'm actually going to raise, I don't know, $3.5 million and put 500K on my own money? Is that more typical than I'm...
 
I would say that is typical. Yep. That is more typical. would say prime example idea, $10 million property, get a $6 million, maybe a little bit more, $6, $7 million loan. And then you raise three or $4 million, whether that's from passive investors or whether that's your own capital that you put in, or maybe you bring in fund to fund investors.
 
(Seth Bradley) (59:02.478)
Okay, so that's where I wanted to ask the question, fund to fund. Tell me how that's different than the, bring in 3.5, I bring in 500K to the table, I raised 3.5, now I have a $4 million down payment, we borrow $6 million on debt. Tell me how the fund to fund is different than that approach.
 
Sure. So that deal that you just described, we like to call that when we're talking it with respect to fund to funds, the target deal. So that's the target deal. Like that's the entity and the structure that's buying the asset. So they're buying this $10 million asset. We're actually at the fund to fund level, one level down from there. So we create our own legal structure, our own LLC, and you have your own manager, a fund manager who brings in their own passive investors and they put them in that fund to fund legal entity.
 
And then the fund of fund legal entity actually invests into the target deal. So they come into the target deal as basically a big passive investor. let's say they aggregate a half a million dollars where typically, you know, the average investor might be $50,000. So these are bigger investors. It's just one big investor to the lead sponsor or the target deal, but it's really, yeah, it's really another fund is what it is. So it's a fund of a fund or a fund of a syndication.
 
That is so interesting. so you're saying that is becoming more prevalent. You fund a fund. I mean, I would imagine that's where not to get so far off topic, but that's where a lot of big companies who are deploying their excess capital or investing in. I I guess it's in multiple portfolios, right? Investing, right? mean, there's commercial, there's insurance. I mean, there's so many different things you can invest your money into.
 
Yes.
 
(Seth Bradley) (01:00:46.656)
Is that all fun to fun families essentially?
 
For sure. For sure. Yeah. You know, you can call it a fund. There's different kinds of fund to funds. Fund funds aren't new. They've just been deployed in a different way recently or more prominently or more often, which is this kind of this I'll call it. We like to call it an SPV fund to fund single purpose vehicle fund to fund. Now other people will call it that same thing and mean something different, but the way that we mean it is that we create this fund to fund entity.
 
And it's a single purpose vehicle, meaning it's created only to invest in one deal. So that $10 million multifamily deal, we create a fund of an SPV fund of fund only to invest in that one deal. So it's really just kind of a conduit for your fund to fund past investors to ultimately invest as a group into the $10 million target deal. But as you mentioned, there have been funds and fund to funds around, you know, forever, right? There's more.
 
know, blind pool funds and semi-blind pool funds that, you know, they'll aggregate $100 million in capital. And then when they find a deal they like, they'll put $5 million in this deal and they'll find another deal they like and put $10 million in this deal. And they'll just allocate capital where they want. So that's different than the SPV that's designed only to invest in one deal.
 
So now you mentioned earlier that I had opened up a can of words and I want to please call out the areas where it gets a little bit difficult and hairy because it all depends on the deal, it all depends on the return, it all depends on the value add, if there is a right and maybe that's where you're going but I'm curious like what did you mean when you know going back to the question of okay let's go back to that use case right putting down $500,000 myself right to target right.
 
(Seth Bradley) (01:02:33.518)
Then there's raising 3.5 million for the down payment And then this remaining 6 million is the debt I think originally I had the question of well how much I'm GP here like I put this together right in my charge I get 2 % my charging a 1 % and then maybe and this is where you can enlighten me Maybe is it difficult because it depends how long I hold the asset for? What the exit strategy is? I mean, I just just give us if you you
 
could just some light on, like, you know, you can raise capital. by the way, here's how you get compensated for doing so, right? Considering of course that the goal is not just, hey, I want to make money off of this, you know, for the hard work that you've put in, you're a stewardship of that money and you have to put it to work and you're managing that entire deal, right?
 
What is that compensation like on that kind of, on that $10 million year could one expect? And if you have some percentages and structures that are best practices, I would just love to know.
 
Yeah, just some industry norms that you'll see out there is you'll see the GP compensated as a whole. They'll get some sort of an upfront fee. They'll get some sort of an annual fee. And then you'll get some sort of a profit split on the exit. Now you can charge other fees as well. I mean, you can charge a construction management fee. You can charge a guarantee fee if you guarantee the loan. You can charge other fees like that. But typically those first three are the ones that you'll see on every deal, some sort of
 
upfront fee, annual fee, and a profit split. Industry norms, would say somewhere between one and 4 % for the acquisition fee. I'll just call that the upfront fee. And it depends on the size of the deal, typically. The bigger the deal, the smaller the percentage. The smaller the deal, the bigger the percentage. And then the asset management fee, which is your annual fee, usually is somewhere between one and 3%, something like that. And then your exit fee or your profit split.
 
Ruben Kanya (01:04:33.856)
or your promote, there's a lot of different nomenclature for it. That's highly dependent on the deal. So on a typical multifamily value add, it might be a 70-30 split or 75-25 in favor of the investor or something like that. Maybe even 80-20 if it's a class A asset or something a little bit less riskier. It really just depends on how much meets on the bone. With the development deal, for instance, it might be
 
more in favor of the managers of the GPs. It might be a 50-50 split, something like that. If there's a lot of construction management and ground up, that sort of thing. So it really just depends on the asset type and the deal itself.
 
That's a great explanation. So there's the upfront acquisition, then there's the annual, and then there's the exit. So there's an opportunity. Again, this is a big, it's a big deal. Uh, no pun intended, right? You're literally raising capital. There's a lot of, really, there's a lot of, um, uh, responsibility behind it. Wanted to understand what were some kind of numbers. Um, does that one to 4 % change when you're bringing in, you know, I know you mentioned code GP is, you know, et cetera. Um, but.
 
Is there a maximum or a number that you've seen gets a little bit wacky? Can you have too many cooks in the kitchen? What are your thoughts there?
 
Yeah, for sure. mean, that's, you know, when you're talking about cannon worms, this is probably one of them. I'm really alluding to, you know, the compliance aspects and making sure that you're co-chair with securities laws. And, you know, what happened with the CoGP model that we were talking about before is we're entrepreneurs. So we like to push the limits. So we're like, oh, cool. We can raise capital and we're an active partner. Great. Well, why don't I bring my friend in here? He thinks he can raise $500,000 too. So then I got two.
 
Ruben Kanya (01:06:21.176)
Plus you've got the operating partners. And then they're like, well, why don't we just bring in 10 people? We can bring in 10 people that can raise $100,000 a piece. Why don't we do that? Well, then it gets wacky, right? That's what we're talking about. That's where the SEC would come in and they would say, hmm, okay, you've got 10 people over here that are seemingly raising capital, but they're active partners. Then you've got these operating partners. Maybe there's two or four of them. We'll call it 14. So you've got 14 people in this deal that are general partners on this asset.
 
Tell me exactly what all 14 of these people are doing in an active way. And the answer is they're not doing anything but raising capital. There's probably like, there's probably these four active partners and maybe one or two of these capital partners that are actually participating and the other eight aren't doing anything except here's my $100,000 from my two investors and I'm walking away. And then the SEC is like, that's illegal.
 
Right, because that's not and is the argument that they're not actually engaged or is the argument that they're bringing in somebody going back to what we discussed earlier, or is the argument that they are bringing in somebody else's money that doesn't really have interest into the deal and they're not involved. what's maybe that maybe they're one in the same. I apologize, Seth, but what's
 
no worries. It's that the general partner, this co-GP person, is not an active partner. have to have a job. They have to be participating in the deal. Typically, and it depends on what attorney you ask, but typically they'll have to have some sort of meaningful thing to do, we'll call it, after the deal closes. the SEC-
 
Are you tracking like meeting minutes and like stuff like that going to
 
Ruben Kanya (01:08:02.86)
Exactly,
 
Right. Got it. Okay. So it's actually best practice. You're probably reinforcing that like, Hey, like every meeting it's logged every activity. Like you really need to, to reinforce the, the sec compliance, right. And I'm assuming that's where you come in and you kind of set the best practice kind of terms for, for the, for the
 
You need to get paid for doing something that is not raising capital. That's really what it comes down to. What are you doing that's not raising capital? Because yes, if you're an active partner, you are allowed to raise capital for your own deal, but that can't be why you're getting paid. You can't be getting paid to raise capital. You have to be getting paid to actually do whatever duties that you're doing. So are you asset managing? Are you doing due diligence? You know, the popular one is
 
investor relations, right? We always say we're doing investor relations as a capital raiser because we are, we're managing our investors, but the SEC is probably going to see through that. And really the hallmark is a lot of times you'll get paid based on how much you raise. So they'll be like, okay, Mr. Co-GP, you raised 200,000. Well, you'll say upfront, like, I'm going to give you 5 % of the deal because you say you're going to raise $500,000. And then
 
come to find out you only raised $200,000. And now the lead sponsor goes and says, well, I'm only going to give you 2 % now because you only raised $200,000. Well, that's going to be a big red flag if you ever get investigated, right? Like you're going
 
(Seth Bradley) (01:09:38.659)
So that's not allowed to adjust on the fly.
 
No, because think about it. You're supposed to be getting paid based on your other activities, not on how much you raise. Right. So if you calibrate it, if you backtrack it and say, oh, why raise $325,000? Okay. We get 3.25%. That's going to pretty easy to dig through the docs and see that, Oh, I've got these five co-GPs and this guy raised 325. So he got 3.25 and his other person raised 275 and they got 2.75. See it all the time.
 
If anything goes wrong with the deal and the SEC wants to look into it, it's going to be pretty obvious.
 
Yeah, that's a great call out man. And I'm curious that, you know, I could literally go on. You're giving me a whole master class here. I want to be mindful of your time, but I got to ask you this question. Is it, if I buy the asset with my own money, take on all the risk and then raise capital, is that still kosher?
 
That doesn't change anything. It doesn't matter if you're raising capital before.
 
(Seth Bradley) (01:10:44.366)
So I could put in my 10 million and then raise after.
 
Yeah, it happens all the time. It happens all the time. like you'll see, for instance, I'm trying to think of a good example. A good example is Grant Cardone.
 
I was going to say Cardone I think does that right?
 
Grant Cardone buys his own real estate with his own out of pocket money and he gets a lot of flack because what he does is he inflates the price after he buys it with his own cash because he has so much money, inflates the price, sells those securities to his past investors at an inflated price so they get a lesser deal than he got. So he makes money as the purchaser. Then he also makes money on raising capital on the other side. So it doesn't matter if you
 
If you buy it with your own money to start, if you have passive investors coming into the deal, no matter when it is, or if it's a separate deal, or if it's the same deal, the same entity, a different entity, if you have passive investors, it's a security and you're going to be, you're going to have to comply with all these securities laws that we've talking about today.
 
(Seth Bradley) (01:11:46.978)
That's awesome. That's how you put a bow on it. let me ask you, got Tribevest, which you kind of plug a little bit, but just so we understand, you gave us an entire kind of scope of kind of how you come in into your lab and how you're able to serve others going through a similar path who are trying to raise capital in compliance and as well as possibly invest passively with those who are willing to
 
do all that front work. Where does Tribevest come in and sit in? Is it for the, you know, the person who wants to do it passively? Is it the person who wants to tell us a little bit about where Tribevest kind of, you know, connects all the dots here?
 
Yeah. You know, if you're looking to raise capital compliantly for somebody else's deal, so we would put it in what's called a fund to fund, then that's Tribevest. Tribevest is an all-in-one, done-for-you, fund to fund in a box. We handle all the setup. We do all the fund administration. We set up all the compliance elements. We do all these things for you so that you don't have to do any of them. Like it's literally a business in a box, so you can just focus on
 
the marketing, the sales, the pitching, getting your investors, that's what actually raising the capital. So we do all the back office, all the stuff that you don't want to do so that you can just focus on raising capital. And then it's a very narrow box, right? Like, there's only so many things that you can do with it because we're a SaaS company. So we are a software. We're kind of like a more sophisticated rocket lawyer where you give us the inputs and we fill out.
 
documents for you. And then we hold on all the fund administration and back office things and do that for you. But if it doesn't fit in that box, then that's kind of where my law firm comes in. So if you want to buy the asset yourself, you want to be the syndicator, you want to be the lead sponsor, you want to put together a really sophisticated blind pool fund where you're raising a bunch of money and then allocating a little bit of capital to all these different deals, then that's my law firm. It'll come in. My law firm is called Raise Law and I'll handle
 
Ruben Kanya (01:13:59.684)
the more sophisticated things for you.
 
That's interesting. Yeah, because I think what we talked about, talked about syndication, but then there's funds that basically invest into multiple individual deals,
 
Yep.
 
Real quick, just so we can put this case study and bring it home, try VEST, put it in a case study where you're saying if you're looking to raise capital for somebody else's fund, let's go with our previous example, $10 million asset.
 
Yeah. What's the case study? Yeah. mean, somebody that commonly comes up would be for that same deal. Maybe you've invested in that lead sponsor's previous deal and you're, you know, you have a good network. Like I said, we've seen it time after time. You're a doctor, you're a dentist, you're an engineer, you're a tech person. You already have friends and family who are pretty wealthy and that have seen you invest passively in a deal and they ask you, Hey, how do I get involved? And you're like, well,
 
Ruben Kanya (01:14:56.462)
I can maybe, and then you realize that maybe you can raise a half million bucks. So you bring in your $10, $50,000 dollar investors, put them into one of these Try Best Fund to Funds, and then aggregate that capital, and then invest in that $10 million dollar deal as a $500,000 passive investor.
 
Well, and then your team is handling all the logistics and documents.
 
to handle all the documentation, the setup, the administration, everything.
 
Got it. And I guess when I think of what's in it for me, A, I got to bring people along the way. I'm technically the GP of that fund.
 
That's right. So you get paid for essentially raising capital and you can actually say it here, but it's kind of the same format, right? Like you're getting paid to operate.
 
(Seth Bradley) (01:15:48.098)
Yeah, I'm so I'm so glad we brought this full circle because there is a way you've created a way to be compliant in being able to essentially get paid to raise capital, but you're still again, the steward of the money. But now you have an entire compliance team that's handling the back office needs to be able to do it the right way. Is that right?
 
That's right. And then just to make it clear here, there's also parameters on that on how much you raise and how much you can possibly make. And the industry standard is, at a minimum, you might make 8 % of the raise over the life of the deal. So let's say that's maybe a five-year projected deal, that target deal, up to, I've seen as high as 20%. Now that's abnormal, but I've seen up to 20. And I would say the norm is probably 10 to 15 % somewhere in there that you make
 
(Seth Bradley) (01:16:47.534)
Would that fall in within the you said upfront annual exit does that then fall into the upfront fee in a way?
 
It's part of it. So that's that's the combined upfront annual and profit split. Okay, if you raise them Yeah, so if you raise a million bucks expect to make a hundred to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars on that over the life of the deal and that sounds pretty damn good
 
Yeah, a hundred percent. Cause it's, only a million, put a couple of zeros behind that. You know what we're doing. Seth man. Thank you so much. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. I learned so much and it's, it goes back to what we were saying. It's just iron sharpens iron. I appreciate you reaching out and us getting together in the lab here. I think people are going to get a kick out of this one. And I want them to be able to go to an expert that has honesty.
 
Fully integrated solution the man's done walk the walk talk the talk. He even built a software as a service So you can do the same so tell us where we can get in touch with you my man because You're you're a wealth of knowledge and and and you've given us the tools to be able to do it ourselves in our lab So thank you for that. Where can we get in touch with you?
 
Ruben, really appreciate that, brother. Thanks for having me on. Best place would be to just go to SethPaulBradley.com and I update my links there and you can find links to Try Best. You can find links to Raise Law and also connect with me on social media.
 
(Seth Bradley) (01:18:17.72)
That's awesome, man. Make sure you check that out. Seth Paul Bradley.com. My man. Well, just like that, experimentation. We came, we saw, we conquered. Now it's time for you to implement in your lab. Experimentation. believe there are two critical components that will help you achieve your goals very quickly and succeed. Number one, it's information like this that you've received on a show in an episode.
 
Yep.
 
(Seth Bradley) (01:18:46.452)
content that you can find on my YouTube channel or anybody's channel. And then there's a community and the way we've been able to expedite our process, the way people in our community, people that we consult, mastermind members, whoever, they get the information on an episode like this, but then they also have a support, whether it's me guiding them or being guided through a community. There is an opportunity for you listening to be able to expedite your process or even expedite your results that you're seeking by being part of the community.
 
If that is what you're interested in, we at ExperimentNation happen to have a community devoted to helping maximize your occupancy and your profitability altogether, regardless of which market that you are in. And for that reason, you have an opportunity where you can go to experimentrealestate.com forward slash submit. If you're looking to work in an environment that can help you prosper faster.
 
call out any areas that you might not be familiar in, especially the blind spots. That's where a guide comes in hand and I would be a pleasure and honor to be your guide. But in order to make sure you're a good fit, make sure you go to experimentosate.com forward slash submit, so my team can go ahead and take it and see if you're a good fit to join the mastermind and the multiple programs that we have. In addition to that, I'm also now a YouTube partner, which means that I want to give you more access to information, more access to Q and A's.
 
more access to the questions that actually come out of our mastermind to help people expedite the process. We've seen people get anywhere from four to five thousand, six thousand, even seven thousand dollar a month net on just one door by applying the strategies that we use by working with corporations and furnished accommodation in a very strategic way. So if you're interested, make sure you also subscribe because I'm going to have different tiers that's on YouTube now that we've become YouTube partner.
 
to continue to be the bridge to your success in your lab. And your lab means your life, your goals, or wherever you're trying to head. So make sure you also hit the subscribe button on my YouTube channel. That's youtube.com forward slash real estate experiment will be there. You can also look us up at midterm, mental insurance experiment. We will be there. Make sure you hit the subscribe because that's when you will know the tiers that are available to you. That makes sense for you, your marketplace for your results. Remember your only.
 
(Seth Bradley) (01:21:09.95)
one experiment away. Let's build.
Links from the Show and Guest Info and Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzv9zV5CK30
https://experimentrealestate.com/#blueprint
https://bit.ly/3h40ykk
Seth Bradley’s Links:
https://x.com/home?lang=en
https://www.youtube.com/@sethbradleyesq
https://www.facebook.com
https://www.threads.com/
https://www.instagram.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/
https://passiveincomeattorney.com/seth-bradley/
https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/sethbradleyesq
https://medium.com/@sethbradleyesq
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Ruben Kanya Links:
https://www.instagram.com/devin.robinson1/
https://www.facebook.com/drob737/
https://x.com/devinrobinson37
https://www.threads.com/@devin.robinson1
https://www.tiktok.com/@devin.robinson1
https://www.linkedin.com/in/devin-robinson-997ba040/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/funds-on-fire/id1801225885
https://open.spotify.com/show/2LiQRSvKGJZZYorjH6RdkS
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtyvPc7RK4QxFGbYTaK-Row

In this episode, Mike Hoffman shares how he made his first million in real estate during the COVID short-term rental boom, and his most recent million by turning outdated vending machine routes into modern micro markets stocked with unconventional products like shampoo and Tide pods. He and Seth Bradley explore how his next million will likely come from leveraging artificial intelligence to scale vending and small-business operations. Hoffman highlights the rapid evolution of AI and its power to replace manual tasks, envisioning a near future where AI-driven robots handle everyday chores and transform the landscape of entrepreneurship and business efficiency.
Links to Watch and Subscribe:
https://youtu.be/1EOavier6ug
Bullet Point Highlights:
First million: Real estate + COVID timing (short-term rentals)
Last million: Vending machines → flipped old routes into micro markets
Sold high-ticket items (e.g., $35 shampoo) in vending setups
Tech improvements + AI driving down costs, boosting efficiency
Next million: Scaling vending/small biz ops with AI tools
Believes AI is replacing human roles fast (e.g., virtual assistants)
Predicts humanoid AI robots in homes within 5 years
Transcript:
Seth Bradley (00:00.172)
Welcome to Million Dollar Mondays, how to make, keep, and scale a million dollars. Mike is a super successful entrepreneur in the vending machine business and beyond. Tell us, how did you make your first million dollars?
 
Yeah, Seth, probably actually through real estate and just getting a little bit kind of lucky with timing with COVID and short term rentals and some of that. But yeah, that's probably how I got the first million.
 
Gotcha. Yeah. Real estate usually plays a role in the everybody's strategy down the line, whether they're in, you know, in that primary business or not, you know, whether they start out there or they end up there, real estate usually plays a part. How'd you make your last million?
 
Yeah, that's a good question because it's completely different than real estate, but it's actually been vending machines. that's been kind of fun. just, you you talk about product market fit whenever you're an entrepreneur with a business. And that was just kind of the perfect storm right now of traditional vending really kind of being outdated. And we found a product market fit.
 
with it. Gotcha. Cool. And that was from, was this maybe mostly attributed to kind of buying those routes, those larger routes?
 
Mike Hoffman (01:14.646)
Exactly, yeah, buying old school routes and really kind of flipping them like a house with modern micro markets, charging with different products and what would fit in a vending machine like more of the unorthodox, know, toilet paper and tide pods and things that wouldn't fit in a traditional vending machine. I mean, we'll sell $35 bottles of shampoo in these micro markets. So just kind of go and add it in a different way.
 
Yeah, and then with the aging population, there's got to be more and more of these things popping up. So there should be more opportunity for people to get involved or for people like yourself to just snag everything, right?
 
Yeah, think there's no chance I could snag everything, not even just in this town alone that I'm currently in. I mean, machines are getting cheaper, the technology is getting way better with AI. And nowadays, it's not what fits in a vending machine motor. It's okay, what's shelf space? So if it's a bottle of shampoo or a glass Coke, it doesn't matter because it's not just getting thrown down the chute of a traditional machine.
 
Makes sense, makes sense. Last, how are you planning on making your next million dollars?
 
I think probably with AI, we're doing a lot of interesting stuff with helping people scale their vending routes that is applicable to any small business. And so I'm really intrigued. Just every time I go down a rabbit hole with some new AI tool, I feel like there's another better one that just came right behind it. So I just think it's kind of that time where you can really get ahead by just learning right now in this kind of wave of AI.
 
Seth Bradley (02:49.27)
Yeah, totally makes sense. mean, people that are not paying attention to AI, whether it's simply using chat GBT instead of Google search are getting left behind quickly because it's just advancing so fast. I can't even imagine what this world's going to look like five years from now, the way that things are moving.
 
It's crazy. Three years ago when I was working for a tech company selling software to the government, I would have to work with three secretaries to schedule a meeting with the general to sell their software. Now my EA is literally an AI bot and everyone that's scheduling time on my calendar, they don't even know they're talking to a non-human, which is perfect.
 
Yeah, 100%. I predicted within five years, everybody's going to have a humanoid robot in their home with AI instilled, and they're going to be doing physical things for us at our homes.
 
I hope so. I hope they can go to Costco, get all our groceries, do our laundry, the dishes.
 
Yup. Yup. Awesome,
 
Links from the Show and Guest Info and Links:
Seth Bradley’s Links:
https://x.com/sethbradleyesq
https://www.youtube.com/@sethbradleyesq
www.facebook.com/sethbradleyesq
https://www.threads.com/@sethbradleyesq
https://www.instagram.com/sethbradleyesq/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethbradleyesq/
https://passiveincomeattorney.com/seth-bradley/
https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/sethbradleyesq
https://medium.com/@sethbradleyesq
https://www.tiktok.com/@sethbradleyesq?lang=en
Mike Hoffman’s Links:
https://www.instagram.com/mikehoffmannofficial/
https://x.com/mrpassive_?lang=en
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikedhoffmann/
https://www.tiktok.com/@mr.passive
https://www.tiktok.com/@sethbradleyesq?lang=en

In this episode, Seth Bradley and Mike Hoffman, Mike Hoffman shares that what sets him apart from others in his field is discipline and focus, particularly the ability to say no to opportunities that don’t align with his goals. Seth Bradley and Mike Hoffman discuss how successful entrepreneurs often achieve success by narrowing their focus and specializing in a specific niche. Mike Hoffman attributes much of his own success to concentrating on vending machines after realizing that this area drew the most interest and results. For those looking to get started in the vending business, Seth Bradley and Mike Hoffman advise leveraging personal connections to secure high-foot-traffic locations and build a strong foundation for growth.
Links to Watch and Subscribe:
https://youtu.be/w_phQef7MOU
Bullet Point Highlights:
Mike credits his success to discipline, focus, and the ability to say no
Emphasizes the mindset: "It's better to be respected than liked"
Believes the top trait of successful entrepreneurs is focus
Success came by niching down into vending after testing other passive income streams
Advises newcomers to start by leveraging warm connections to place machines in high-foot-traffic locations
Examples include urgent care clinics, apartment buildings, gyms, and kids’ studios
Transcript:
Seth Bradley (00:00.162)
You're clearly in the top 1 % of what you do, Mike. What is it about you that separates you from the rest of the field?
 
Ooh, that's a good question, Seth. I think it's just discipline, know, discipline and focus. One of the hardest things is being able to say no with the things that don't align. And when I was growing up, I had a quote that has really stuck with me that's like, it's better to be respected than liked. And I think that really resonates. Like, naturally, as a human, you want to be liked and help people, but the 1 % are really good at saying no.
 
Yeah, I love that man. That's a great answer. Going to build on that. What do you think the number one attribute is that makes a successful entrepreneur? Yeah. Yeah. Yep. The one thing, right? The one thing. That's why.
 
Probably focus.
 
Mike Hoffman (00:47.246)
You come back to like the most successful entrepreneurs, they always niche down and they niche down because they just hyper-focus. Like this is kind of why for me, you know, I started this passive, Mr. Passive on social media before I even got into Vendi. Well, now everyone's like, well, how passive is Vendi? Well, it's like, what's really interesting is I was posting all these different, what I thought passive income streams in the time, but everyone, 95 % of the questions I got about Airbnbs are all my different.
 
investments was about bending. So I just niche down on on bending and I just look back on that and I was like it really forced me to focus.
 
Awesome, awesome. What's one thing someone could do today to get 1 % closer to success in the vending machine business if they are really interested in learning?
 
Tap into your connections and find a location that has high foot traffic, whether that's a friend that works at an urgent care, a sister that lives at an apartment. You take your kid to that gymnastics studio that has a ton of foot traffic between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. All those locations are prime locations to put one of these modern smart machines in. so tapping into your connections, a warm intro is better than 10 cold.
 
Awesome. Alright Mike, I appreciate it brother.
 
Links from the Show and Guest Info and Links:
Seth Bradley’s Links:
https://x.com/sethbradleyesq
https://www.youtube.com/@sethbradleyesq
www.facebook.com/sethbradleyesq
https://www.threads.com/@sethbradleyesq
https://www.instagram.com/sethbradleyesq/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethbradleyesq/
https://passiveincomeattorney.com/seth-bradley/
https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/sethbradleyesq
https://medium.com/@sethbradleyesq
https://www.tiktok.com/@sethbradleyesq?lang=en
Mike Hoffman’s Links:
https://www.instagram.com/mikehoffmannofficial/
https://x.com/mrpassive_?lang=en
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikedhoffmann/
https://www.tiktok.com/@mr.passive
https://www.tiktok.com/@sethbradleyesq?lang=en